Life of Sir John Beverley Robinson, Bart., Chief-Justice of Upper Canada. With a pref. by George R. Parkin

LIFE OF SIR JOHN
BEVERLEY ROBINSON

PREFACE

THE ancient and famous nations of the world have
ever cherished carefully the traditions of their early
history. Sometimes these traditions strike the key-
note of a great destiny ; sometimes they furnish the
inspiration which secures it. In either case they are
among the most valuable of national assets.

A young country does well to take careful note,
in like manner, of all that is best in its past. The
figures in the history may or may not be of heroic
stature — the work done may or may not be on a
grand scale. But it is foundation work, the sig-
nificance of which grows with the lapse of time.
Fortunate the State which, looking back upon its
early builders, finds their characters stamped with
the unquestioned hall-mark of truth and honour-
finds their actions controlled by clear purpose and
high principle. As an example and an inspiration
the memory of such builders cannot be too care-
fully preserved or too closely studied.

It is with this thought in my mind that I
commend, to Canadian youth particularly, this
biography of Sir John Beverley Robinson, as that
of a man whose private character and public service
establish a standard to which they may aspire with
boundless advantage to themselves and to their
country. Never, it seems to me, could it better be-
come our young men to hold before them so high
a standard for admiration and emulation than at

viii PREFACE

the present time, when the great future that lies
before Canada is gradually unfolding itself, and we
begin to realise how large a place, as the greatest
daughter nation connected with the Empire, she is
destined to take in the world.

We Canadians have reason to be content with
the beginnings of our country's history. In them
may be found all the charm of romance, the fervour
of patriotism, the severe glory of suffering and self-
sacrifice on behalf of ideals.

Over the early history of French Canada the
zeal of the Jesuit missionary, the daring of the
adventurous explorer, the chivalry of the French
courtier, have thrown a glamour of poetic charm
which gathers depth of colour with the lapse of
years, and furnishes a striking and brilliant back-
ground to the somewhat prosaic conditions of
modern life and progress.

The great struggle which marked the end of
this period, and led to the fall of the French power
on the American Continent, was a conflict of
giants : on either side leaders who were masters in
war and in statesmanship ; followers stamped with
the stubborn courage of two of the world's strongest
races, and hardened by the rough life of the New
World. French and British Canadian alike can
read with honourable pride a page of history illumi-
nated by the genius of Wolfe, the chivalric heroism
of Montcalm, and the bravery of soldiers who held
life cheap in the service of King and Country.

Under the British flag this heritage of noble
tradition was immeasurably enlarged. When the
Revolution of 1775-83 severed the other colonies
of England in America from the mother land,
Canada received most of those who in the revolted

PREFACE ix

colonies had remained loyal, amid defeat and perse-
cution, to the old flag and to British institutions.
These Loyalists, driven or self-exiled for conscience'
sake from the land of their birth, kindled in Canada
that passionate attachment to the idea of a United
Empire which has controlled the policy of the
country for more than a century, is a dominant
force in its politics to-day, and has contributed
more, perhaps, than any other single factor to
determine the future of the Empire itself.

The war of 1812 followed to test the strength
of this attachment. In this war the Loyalist of
Upper Canada and the Frenchman of Lower
Canada were knit together in resistance to unjusti-
fied aggression. By the unyielding courage then
displayed in the face of what seemed overwhelm-
ing odds, the territorial integrity of Canada and
the security of the Empire in America were honour-
ably maintained. Again, when rebellion reared its
head in 1837, and a discontented minority hoped
to repeat the experience of 1775, the forces of
loyalty were strong enough to assert, once for all,
a superiority which has never since been questioned.

Thus two centuries of struggle and adventure
lend picturesqueness to the birth of Canada, and
furnish ample material for an inspiring history.

But the toils and triumphs of peace are not less
honourable or less important than those of war.

The career of Sir John Robinson links together
that stirring period of 1812-14 when the fate of the
country was decided by force of arms, and the later
constructive stage when, in Legislature and Law
Court, were laid the social and political founda-
tions of a vast and peaceful State, self-governing and
mistress of its own destiny, but yet holding firmly

x PREFACE

to the principles of national life in which it was
cradled. His boyhood was one fitted to develop
strength of character. His father, who had wrecked
his fortunes by adherence to the British cause in
Virginia, died when he was quite young. Thus he
early learned those hard lessons of poverty and
adversity, so common in the pioneer life of a new
country — so useful in the cultivation of qualities
which make for success.

A fortunate chance placed him in school days
under the care and guidance of Dr. Strachan, a
man whose masculine intellect has left a profound
impression upon the educational, ecclesiastical, and
political life of Upper Canada. It impressed the
individual scholar as well. The stern disciplinarian
was also the devoted friend, and the perfect candour
of intercourse between the two men exhibits an
almost ideal relationship between teacher and pupil.
From this strong master young Robinson seems to
have caught much of the deep sense of Christian
duty, the unusual capacity for labour, and the
habits of accurate thought, which marked his whole
subsequent life.

The weighty responsibilities of manhood were
quickly thrust upon him. Before he was twenty-
one he had served with distinction under General
Brock, the especial hero of Canadian history, with
whom he was present at the surrender of Detroit,
and at the battle of Queenston Heights, where
Brock fell. He had also in the same year been
named as Acting Attorney- General for Upper
Canada, after the death of the Attorney-General, j
who fell in the same battle.

When the war was over he betook himself to / <
England to complete his legal studies and to im- j

PREFACE xi

prove his mental equipment by foreign travel. To
the responsible and bracing experiences of his Cana-
dian life he now added, as these records show,
familiarity with much of what was best in the
social, legal, and political atmosphere of the mother
land. Thus it was that the vigour and independ-
ence of thought begotten of pioneer life in the new
world were supplemented in him by an old world
breadth of experience and courtesy of manner which
added to his power and charm, and which are said
to influence even to the present day the Bench and
Bar of his native province.

Returning to Canada, he was appointed Attorney-
General in 1818 and elected to the House of Assembly
in 1821. Rising steadily through the various stages
of professional success he became in 1829 Chief-
Justice of Upper Canada, and in virtue of that office,
President of the Executive, and Speaker of the Legis-
lative Council. The last two positions he vacated in
the course of a few years, as the system of responsible
government became more clearly defined ; the Chief-
Justiceship he filled for thirty-three years, until he
became President of the Court of Appeal in 1862,
the year before his death. How his judicial duties
were performed may be inferred from two notes in
his memoranda made in 1854, the one recording the
fact that in the previous twenty-four years there
had only been five appeals to England from the
decisions of his court, and that not one of these
had been reversed ; the second mentioning that in
these twenty-four years there had been absolutely
no arrears in his department of the judicial business
of the country. This record, noted with modest
pride, has probably few parallels in the judicial
history of Canada, or of Greater Britain.

xii PREFACE

Of his legislative activities only the merest out-
line can find place in a sketch such as this. But
the references to his connection with such vexed
questions as the Rebellion of 1837, Lord Selkirk's
erratic government in the Hudson Bay Territory,
the Clergy Reserves, Lord Durham's report, and
the Union of Upper and Lower Canada, will be
read with deep interest for the sake of the side-
lights thrown upon Canadian history at one of its
most critical periods. His influence in the decision
of many Canadian questions was of a twofold kind.
Sundry public missions on which he was sent to
England, and a longer visit caused by ill-health,
brought him much in contact with the leaders of
English thought and politics. Thus while his inti-
mate knowledge of affairs and the strength and
sincerity of his convictions commanded public con-
fidence and the respect even of opponents in Canada,
his opinions had also great weight in England,
where he was freely consulted by the Duke of
Wellington, Colonial Ministers, and others responsible
for the direction of Imperial policy. In giving advice
he furnished no ground even for the suspicion that
he would sacrifice for Imperial interests any just
right of his colony. His example is an abiding
proof that loyalty to the Empire as a whole is not
inconsistent with loyalty to any of its parts.

A biography like this brings out in strongest
relief the supreme value of character in public as
in private life. Personal and family detail may be
of limited interest : this broader teaching goes to the
root of national welfare. Characters such as that
of Sir John Beverley Robinson give distinction and
dignity to a country's history.

GEORGE R. PARKIN.

CONTENTS

i -HA I'. PAGE

I. FAMILY AND EMILY LIFE ..... 1

II. THE AMERICAN WAR — CAMPAIGN OF 1812 . . 29

III. CLOHNG YKM<> OF THI WAR, 1813-15 . . 53

IV. LlFL IN K\(. LAND - OCTOBER 1815 TO AUGUST 18l6 79

V. TH \\KL- ON THE CONTINENT, TO THE ENGLISH LAN

AM) IN S«)TL\M), ETC. - 1816-1 7 . . . 105

VI. M\RRIA(.E APPOINTED ATTORNEY-GENERAL — WORK

AT THE B\K AND IN THE Hol'.-i: oF ASSEMBLY -

> ........ 135

VII. AT THE BAK AND IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

( Con h fined) — 1824--JS ..... l6l

VIII. ON THE BENCH AND IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

(THE CANADIAN REBELLION) — 1829-38 . . 199

IX. THE DritiiAM REPORT — THE UNION BILL — VIEWS

Afl TO CONFEDERATION, ETC. — 1838-40 . . 237

X. JOURNAL AND ( .'ORR.:>PONDENCE IN ENGLAND —

OCTOBER 1838 TO DECEMBER 1839 . . .270

XI. JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE IN ENGLAND —

DECEMBER 1839 TO APRIL 1840 . . . 293

XII. JUDICIAL LIFE — HOME LIFE — 1840-51 . . . 313

XIII. UNIVERSITIES OF KING'S COLLEGE AND TRINITY

COLLEGE ........ 342

xiii

xiv CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

XIV. JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE WHILE IN ENGLAND,

ETC.— 1855 364

XV. CLOSING YEARS — BECOMES PRESIDENT COURT OF

ERROR AND APPEAL — 1856-63 .... 392

XVI. CONCLUSION — PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, ETC. . 403

APPENDICES 409

INDEX . 477

PLATES

JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON (photogravure) Frontispiece

JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON (photogravure) To face p. 101
(After a miniature, by Herw, London, 181 0.)

MAP OF CANADA . 490

ERRATA

Page 23, line 12, for " Job xxvii. 6," read " Job xxvii. 5 and 6."
Pages 171 and 172, for " Sir Griffin Wilson " read " Sir Giffin

Wilson.1

THE LIFE OF

SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

BART.
CHAPTER I

FAMILY AND EARLY LIFE

Introductory — Family — Parentage — School and student life — Christopher

Kohin>on Colonel I'everley I\ohin>on and his sons Chri>toplier
Rohinson, "Quern's Hangers" The Rev. John Say re. Dr. Stuart,
Mr. Strarhan, .lud^e Houlton, Colonel Maedonell -- The United
Knipire Loyalists : their position after tlie Re\-olutionary War -
letter from General Israel Putnam Christopher Robinson's death :
his children — Dr. Stuart's and Mr. Straehan's kindness— John
lieverley Rohinson placed at school under the latter — Letters from
Dr. Stuart — School life at Cornwall -Address of Mr. Strarhan to his
pupils : their presentation of plate to him in after years — Enters
Mr. Boultoifs office — Letters of Mr. Strarhan and I>r. Stuart — Mr.
lioulton taken prisoner hy the 1'Yeneh Death of Dr. Stuart and
K-ther Kohinson — Knters Colonel Maedonell's office — The Macdonells
of (ilentrarry — Aet> as Clerk of the House of Assembly instead of Mr.
Donald Mat-lean — Vote of the House.

MANY of those who knew my father have expressed
their regret that in Canada, where he lived and died,
and with a part of whose history he was so intimately
connected, no Life or very complete Memoir of him
has hitherto been published.

This has led to my putting these pages together,
but I am very sensible of the disadvantages which must,
in some respects, attend their being written by a son.

I have, therefore, preferred to let the story of
his life be told, as far as practicable, either in his

2 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

own words — through his writings, speeches, and
journals l — or in those of others, through their letters
to or notices of him.

He left behind him, partly for the information
of his children, a memorandum, written in the later
years of his life, and touching upon certain portions
of it. It was in no sense an autobiography, and it
must be borne in mind that it was not intended by
him for publication in any shape. This I have largely
quoted from, placing usually near the beginning of
each chapter what he himself has written respecting
the events referred to in it, and adding to that
whatever may seem of interest in connection with
his account, and tend to bring the whole into a con-
tinuous narrative. Some matters more of purely
family than of general interest, but which it may be
convenient for his descendants to have a record of, I
have placed apart in Appendix B.

To enter into every event affecting Canada in
which he bore a part has not been attempted or
possible in the space of these pages ; and, in allud-
ing to those principal questions which in their day
aroused strong feeling and controversy, I have en-
deavoured to write in the spirit which he would
have approved.

A man of deep and consistent convictions himself,
and for many years in Canada the leader of a party
in Parliament, he was necessarily often in opposition
to others. What I think he would have wished his
descendants to claim for him is that, when he was
so, he believed that he was in the right, and that,
throughout his life, he never deviated, by word or

1 When away from home, he was in the habit of regularly keeping- a
journal, but not at other times.

i FAMILY AND EARLY LIFE 3

act, from what his conscience dictated to be his
duty towards his country. But, while I do claim
this, I willingly concede to his political opponents
convictions as sincere as his own.

My Ft it her*.* Account of hi* Family and Early Life.

first of our family to COMIC to America was Christopher
Robinson, who was Private Secretary to the Governor of
Virginia, Sir William Berkeley, ami continued in that colony
till his death about 1(19;>. lie was the son of John Robinson
of Cleasby, in York>hire, and elder brother of Dr. John
Kobinson, Bishop of Bristol and afterwards of London, who
was the British Plenipotentiary at the Treaty of Utrecht in
1713, and for some years Briti>h Minister to Sweden, of which
country he wrote an account. I believe he was the last ecclesi-
a>tic \\ho was so employed.1

Christopher Robinson had a son John, who became President

of the Council of Virginia, ami married Catherine, daughter of

Robert 1! by whom he had many sons. One of these

.'•ell known in Virginia as Speaker of the House of Burgesses,

as it was then called.

Another, the youngest, w.isBeyerlev, who, having sought his
fortunes in New York, became a merchant there, and married
a daughter of Frederick Philipse, with whom he acquired a
large properlv, situated on the Hudson River, that would now
have been a possession of immense value, but which he forfeited
by his adherence to the Crown in the Revolutionary War.2

lie raised a regiment of his tenantry called "The King's
Loval Americans"1 which he commanded during the war, and
the officers and men at the peace settled in Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Canada. Some account of him is given in the
Gentleman s Ma^a::ine for the year 1792, in the obituary of

1 Some further account of Christopher and Dr. John Robinson is

in Appendix B., I. and 11. The former died as Secretary lor the Colony
of Virginia.

His house, Beverley House on the Hudson, was the scene of some
interesting events in the war, and at one time the headquarters of
Washington (see Appendix B., II.).

4 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

May in that year. He himself died at Bath, having removed
to England after the war.

A more particular account of him is to be found in Sabine's
" History of the American Loyalists/1

The late General Sir Frederick, and Commissary- General
Sir William Robinson1 were both sons of Colonel Beverley
Robinson, and he had others, who removed to New Brunswick,
where their descendants now are numerous.

My father (Christopher), born and brought up in Virginia,
was the son of one 2 of the many brothers of Colonel Beverley
Robinson, and being a youth at William and Mary College in
Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia during the Revolutionary
War, he left college and made his way to the British army, and
afterwards to his uncle, Colonel Beverley Robinson, in whose
family he resided until he received a commission from Sir Henry
Clinton in Colonel Simcoe's Legion,3 as it was called.

He served in this corps till the peace, and then removed
with other Loyalists to New Brunswick. He was the only one
of his own branch of the family who adhered to the royal
cause, and he became in consequence entirely estranged and
separated from them. In New Brunswick he married, in
1784,4 the daughter of the Rev. John Sayre, one of two
brothers who had been sent as missionaries to the American
Colonies by the Society for Propagating the Gospel, and of
whom Mr. Stokes, his Majesty's Chief Justice of Georgia,
thus speaks in his book upon the constitution of the British
Colonies in North America and the West Indies at the time
of the breaking out of the Civil War on the continent of
America.6

1 See Appendix B., III.

'2 \Villiain Kobius.Mi, born about 1763, of the county of Spotsylvania
in Virginia.

3 IH- commission is dated June 26, 1781, and it appears in a letter
from liis widow to Sir John Weutworth that he was then eighteen
years of ;i:re. Sec Appendix A., IV., for some further particulars as
to the corps of " Queen's Rangers" (or Colonel Simcoe's "Legion").
Its proper designation was "The 1st American Regiment or Queen's
lt-i Hirers."

4 At Maugerville, near Fredericton. The Rev. John Sayre died there
in the same year.

" A View of the Constitution of the British Colonies in North America
and the West Indies," by Anthony Stokes, p. 200. London, 1783.

i FAMILY AND EARLY LIFE 5

After describing some of the clergy, whom he says he
had heard with great edification in America, as men \\lio
delivered themselves with that xeal which distinguishes those
who i'eel what they preach to others, Mr. Stokes says :
"Amongst men of this primitive stamp I should mention
Mr. Learning and the two Say res from Connecticut, were it
not that good men are dead to the applause of the world, and
look for their reward in another Country, where merit will not
he mistaken or overlooked.11

In 17cS8 Christopher Robinson (then on half-pay of the
Queen's Rangers) removed to Lower Canada, and in 179^
came to Upper Canada with his family, and lived at Kingston
till 1798. He was called to the liar, and practised there, and
held also the situation of Deputy Ranger of his Majesty's
Woods and Forests in Upper Canada, under a deputation from
Sir John Wentworth of Nova Scotia — an office of very trifling
emolument.

In October 1798 he removed to York (now Toronto),
which had not long before been made the seat of Government,
and died there three weeks after his arrival, leaving a family
of young children1 (for he lived to be but thirty-four years
of age), and not having a relation of any degree in Canada.

He became a Bencher of the Law Society, and was, at the
time of his death, a Member of the House of Assembly, repre-
sent ing the Counties of Lennox and Addington, having been
elected to the second Parliament that sat in Upper Canada.

Three years ago (in 1851), when I went to Richmond, I
spent ten days in Virginia. It was the first visit that any
of my father's family had made there in the seventy years
which had passed since he forsook his home to join the British
standard.

When my father died at York in 1798, the Rev. Dr.
Stuart, who had been an intimate friend of his, proposed that
I should go with him to Kingston, and attend the Grammar
School there kept by Mr. Strachan, who afterwards moved to
Cornwall, of which he had been appointed Rector.

So at that early period of life, I had two excellent

1 Sir John Beverley Robinsoii was the second son.

6 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

examples. One, Dr. Stuart, universally esteemed and re-
spected, in whose family it was impossible to be— even as a
child, as I was— attending constantly to his remarks as to
what an honest man could do, and could not do, without
benefiting by it.

The other, Mr. Strachan— to the inestimable advantage
of receiving instruction under whom I feel perfectly certain
I owe the success I had at an early period of life.

I learnt from him what generosity of character and con-
duct meant, and saw in him constantly exemplified all that
it was most important a young man should see.

I was fortunate also in the next step I took. If I have
any merit in getting on harmoniously with my brethren at the
Bar and on the Bench, I owe it in a certain degree to having
been at an early period of life, when I commenced my legal
studies, under the care of the late Judge Boulton, who was
then Solicitor-General of the province.

On a journey to England he was taken prisoner by the
French, and it became necessary for me to complete under some
one else the period for which I was articled as a law student.

I then placed myself under Colonel Macdonell — Acting
Attorney-General and Aide-de-Camp to General Brock — who
fell at Queenston, a most honourable and high-minded man.

The foregoing sketch passes over in few words
the circumstances of privation and difficulty in which
the United Empire Loyalists, of whom Christopher
Robinson of the Queen's Rangers was one, were
placed at the conclusion of the War of American
Independence.

In Canada the history of these pioneers of the
Upper Province is well known, but for others than
Canadians it may be necessary to say that the United
Empire Loyalists were those who endeavoured to
preserve the unity of the Empire when the Ameri-
can Colonies — now the United States — rose in arms
against the Crown.

i UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS 7

From conviction they adhered to the royal
cause, and fought for it. When it was lost some
returned to England, and many settled in Nova
Scotia, New Brunswick, and Upper Canada.

There they contributed largely to build up again
the Empire as it exists to-day in the Canadian
Dominion.

The people of Canada — many of them descend-
ants of these men — have now lived for more than
a century along an extended border-line of hundreds
of miles side by side with those of the very pros-
perous Republic of the United States; and some
occasionally, both in England and elsewhere, have
pointed out that it would be to their interest to join
it. But the people generally have never thought so ;
their attachment to British institutions is deep-rooted,
and it is not too much to say that this is due, next
to the intrinsic value of these institutions in them-
selves, to the principles and traditions handed down
by the United Empire Loyalists.

The choice which the Loyalists had made, and
never regretted having made, had led to great
hardships, to the forfeiture of fortune, the loss
of home, and, in many cases, to the complete
rupture of close family ties. To be compelled, with
slender resources, to begin life anew in England
or the British provinces, involving in many cases
building their log houses in the uncleared forest
in the depth of winter, must have severely tested
that fortitude which enabled them to rise superior
to their trials.

The feeling between those members of a family
who had taken opposite sides in the American War
of Independence was frequently bitter in the extreme.

8 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Hundreds of miles of wilderness then intervened
between Canada and Virginia, and from the day on
which Christopher Robinson joined the Queen's
Rangers no communication of any sort seems to
have been kept up by him with his relations in
Virginia. The only private letters of his which
have been preserved (as far as I have been able
to ascertain) are to his cousin, Robert Robin-
son,1 who had settled in Nova Scotia, and who,
like himself, had served on the side of the Crown,
and to Colonel Simcoe, his old commanding officer.

When he first went to Lower Canada, he lived
at L'Assomption, afterwards moving to Berthier,
where my father was born, and it was on account
of Colonel Simcoe coming out as Governor to Upper
Canada that he removed to Kingston in 1792, and
afterwards to York (Toronto), where he had previously
arranged for a log house to be built for him a little
east of where the river Don enters Lake Ontario.
He died November 2, 1798, and was buried in the
garrison burial-ground.

His name appears in records as mover or seconder
of several public measures in the House of Assembly
in York, such as for the establishment of a market,
for laying down boundary lines between townships,
and for revising the Act 34 Geo. III., regulating the
practice of the Court of King's Bench.

His early death (when my father was seven years
of age) was caused by an acute attack of gout, aggra-
vated, I have heard, by cold and exposure while
travelling.

My father, alluding to him in one of his memo-

1 A son of John Robinson of Hewick, Middlesex County, Virginia, a
first cousin of Colonel Beverley Robinson.

i CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON 9

randa, says, "I can just recollect that lie was very
tall, and had fair hair and a light complexion."

I have heard him say also that he could well
recollect walking with his mother to the funeral along
the Indian path, and through the forest, which then
intervened between the Don and the cemetery, and
which is now the city of Toronto.

Christopher Robinson, writing to Robert Robin-
son on July C, 1793, tells him of the distress
which Colonel Simcoe, "the first and best friend
I ever met with since I left my Virginia con-
nections," had found him in, when he came out as
Governor; and how comparatively happy he was
then with his half-pay, " a salary of 7s. Od. a day
as Deputy Surveyor-General of \Voods and For*
Is. :3d. for a ration, and 2000 acres of wild land."

Later on, in 1795, writing to Colonel Simcoe,
he speaks of having no connections or relations to
apply to "were I so disposed, having forfeited their
friendship by my political principles"; and he adds,
•• I was bom to better prospects."

After his early — perhaps imprudently early-
marriage in 1784, 1 when he first moved with his
young family to Lower Canada, he was entirely
dependent upon his half-pay as a subaltern, and his
own exertions.

It is interesting for any descendant of the LTnited
Empire Loyalists to read the official reports filed
in the Record Office, Treasury, &c., in England,
of the Commissioners appointed by Parliament to
inquire into the losses and services of the American

1 He was not quite twenty-one years of age. Colonel Beverley
Robinson, writing from England in July 1784 to his daughter, says that
he has " heard of Kit Robinson's marriage," and adds, " 1 am sorry for
and vexed with him for being so imprudent."

10 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Loyalists. The delay in awarding them compensa-
tion, pending the investigation of their claims, must
have caused, in some cases, much distress to them ;
and their services and sacrifices were in many
instances no doubt inadequately recognised, and
too soon forgotten.

The British Government was not, however, as
has been sometimes asserted, ungrateful, and did not
neglect their claims — which amounted to millions
sterling — but it did not do more, and could not
reasonably, perhaps, have been expected to do more,
than indemnify them partially for their losses.

Colonel Beverley Robinson is an instance of the
very heavy losses sustained by some. He, his wife,
and his eldest son had all been attainted by name
of treason, and banished by an Act of the Legislature
of New York, for having been active adherents of
the King of Great Britain, and their whole real and
personal estate confiscated. Four sons fought with
him on the side of the Crown — three in his own
regiment.

Sir Henry Clinton, Commander-in-Chief of the
British forces during the war, bore the following high
testimony before the Commissioners to his services : —

Colonel Beverley Robinson was appointed to the command
of a regiment composed chiefly of his own tenants, at the head
of which he distinguished himself upon several occasions, and
particularly at the storming of Fort Montgomery on October
0, 1777, the command of that attack having devolved upon
him after Lieutenant-Colonel Campbell was killed.

His zealous and very active services rendered him very
obnoxious to the enemy, insomuch that of all other men he
is perhaps the least likely now to receive any favour at
their hands.

He likewise offered himself to do the very same service

i COLONEL BEYERLEY ROBINSON 11

that Major Andre afterwards did with respect to Mr. Arnold;
and with regard to Intelligence1 he was at the head of it.

I am of opinion that he rendered the most essential services
to the Government. It is impossible to speak too highly
of him.

The " service with respect to Mr. Arnold," which
Sir Henry Clinton alludes to, was the conferring
with General Benedict Arnold, who was ready to
betray West Point to the British, and which led
subsequently to the tragic death of Major Andre,
Adjutant-General of the army, whom (as Sir Henry
Clinton says in another paper) he employed, as Colonel
Bevcrley Robinson could not be spared.

One of the officials entrusted by the Commis-
sioners to report to them upon Colonel Beverley
Robinson's claims, says : —

In respect to this case, I find that there was not a Loyalist
more respectable as a private gentleman, or more the object
of jealousy as a British adherent in the eyes of the Americans
than Colonel IJeverlev Robinson — a man of candour and prin-
ciple, and universally beloved. Great pains were taken by the
fir.>t and most leading men of that time to bring him over to
the patriotic faction.

And Sir Guy Carlcton, afterwards Lord Dor-
chester, who succeeded Sir Henry Clinton as Com-
mander-in-Chief, in giving Colonel Beverley Robinson
a letter to Sir George Yonge, Secretary of State in
England, says : —

June 17, 17B.S.

Colonel Beverley Robinson of the Loyal American Regiment
is a gentleman of distinguished probity and worth, and whose
possesMons in this country were very large.

1 That is, the Intelligence Department of the army. He was at one
time in command of a corps of "Guides and Pioneers," and was often
attached to Sir Henry Clinton's staff.

12 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

The violence of the times compels him, accompanied by the
female part of his family, to seek aid and protection in England
at a period of life very ill corresponding with such a change of
land, but his unshaken loyalty and fidelity have been such as
to leave him in the present moment of violence and rage no
other resort.

I beg leave to recommend him to your favourable notice
and protection.1

In his own statement to the Commissioners
Colonel Beverley Robinson valued his confiscated
estates (about 60,000 acres in the province of New
York, and some city property, which, after coming
to him through his wife, Susannah Philipse, had
been much improved by his own exertions) at about
£114,000 New York currency, or £64,000 sterling:
an exceptionally large fortune at that period.

That this estimate was not excessive is to be
inferred from the fact that it was concurred in by
several independent witnesses, examined on oath,
and that some valued it as high as £140,000 cur-
rency. There was, in addition, the personal estate
of about £16,000.

The compensation which the Commissioners re-
commended in Colonel Beverley Robinson's case was
about £24,000 sterling, but it appears that in the end
he received about £17,000.

He had a large family, and for years after the
war was in very straitened circumstances.

It may be mentioned that of the family of Philipse,
descended from Adolph Valipse — who early in the
seventeenth century had acquired immense tracts
of land near or on the site of New York — Frederick

1 From Sir Guy Carleton's manuscript correspondence, in the library
of the Royal Society in London.

i GENERAL ISRAEL PUTNAM 13

(the head of the family), Susannah (Mrs. Beverley
Rohinson), and Mary (Mrs. Roger Morris), all threw
in their lot with the Crown in the war.

Philip Philipse, another member of the family,
had died before the wrar, and his children being too
young to take part in it, their property was not con-
fiscated, and their descendants were, in 1847, still
living on it, at Philipsburgh, on the Hudson River.

It is stated1 that Frederick Philipse received
from the British Government as compensation for
his losses £62,075, and Colonel Roger Morris, who
had married Mary Philipse, £17,000. Also that
Colonel Morris, before the Revolutionary War, had
settled his property upon his wife, and that after the
peace a legal question was raised whether his children
could be debarred from inheriting — they (unlike
Colonel Beverley Robinson's) having been too young
to take any part in the war — and it being provided
in the Treaty of Peace that settlements made before
the war should hold good.

It is added that in 1809 the then representative of
the Morris family, not being in a position to contest
the matter legally, assigned the reversionary rights
of himself and his sisters to John Jacob Astor for
£20,000, who eventually received the property,
which soon increased to many times that amount
in value.

I give below a remarkably interesting letter
from General Israel Putnam, the well-known Revo-
lutionary General, to Colonel Beverley Robinson,
then in England, and the original of which is in the
possession of the latter 's descendants :—

1 See Burke's " Landed Gentry," edition of 1847, under " Morris of
York."

14 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

POMFRET, May 14, 1783.

SIR, — The many civilities which I have received from
Mrs. Robinson and her family make me feel extremely in-
terested in whatever concerns them ; and I must say that my
joy, on the return of peace, is greatly damped by the unhappy
situation in which many friends of the Government are left.

I feel most sensibly for what you must have suffered by
the war, and whenever I think seriously upon the situation of
this country, I cannot but bewail my folly in the part which I
have acted. There was a time when I firmly believed that a
separation from the mother country would be the greatest
blessing to this. But, alas ! experience — too late experience —
has convinced me, as well as thousands of others, how very
erroneous this opinion was.

I now see anarchy and confusion 'every day gaining ground
among us. I see the encroachments of our great and good ally
with pain and regret.

Whether I shall ever live to see the accomplishment of
my wish, or not, I can't tell, but it certainly is the greatest
wish of my heart to leave my posterity in the enjoyment of
that mild government which this unhappy war has deprived
them of. (Signed) ISRAEL PUTNAM.

When Christopher Robinson, of the Queen's
Rangers, died in 1798, his widow must then have
been left at York, now Toronto, where they had
but recently arrived, with but very little means.
She had six children,1 viz. : —
Peter ;

Mary, afterwards Mrs. Heward ;
Sarah, afterwards Mrs. d'Arcy Boulton ;
John Beverley, the subject of this memoir ;
William Benjamin ; and
Esther, who died young.
Colonel Beverley Robinson was dead, and Colonel

1 See Appendix B., IV.

i SCOTCH SYSTEM OF EDUCATION 1.5

Simcoe hud left Upper Canada, so that to neither
of these could she turn for aid or counsel. Her own
father, the Rev. John Sayre, was also dead.

My father has alluded to the warm and staunch
friend he found in the Rev. Dr. Stuart, the father
of the late Archdeacon of Kingston. He was the
Bishop of London's Commissary, or representative in
Upper Canada, and may be regarded as the father of
the Episcopal Church in that province, being at one
time the only Church of England clergyman in it.
A United Empire Loyalist himself, born in Virginia,
and who had served as chaplain to the troops in the
Revolutionary War, he had probably been acquainted
with Christopher Robinson, or his family, before
coming to Canada.

About this date he and others in Kingston were
in correspondence with acquaintances in Scotland
with a view to obtaining a tutor for their sons, being
able to hold out, as an inducement to come to
Canada, the prospect of future educational employ-
ment in connection with a grammar-school and also
a university which it was proposed to establish.

This opening was accepted by Mr. John Strachan,
then master of the parochial school of Kettle, in Fife-
shire, who arrived in Kingston, December 31, 1709.
• To quote the Rev. Dr. Scadding * :—
The families referred to — Hamiltons, Stuarts, and Cart-
wrights — appeared to have looked towards Scotland rather
than England, partly perhaps from national predilection and
partly from a reasonable impression that the economic and
primitive university system of Scotland was better adapted to
a community constituted as that of Upper Canada then was.

1 "The First Bishop of Toronto, a Review and a Study," by Henry
Scadding, D.D., 1868.

16 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

This was a view held by many others, and which
the career of more than one Scotchman in Canada
would seem to endorse.

In connection with this, I may mention that the
Rev. Archibald Alison,1 father of the historian,
though educated at Balliol College, Oxford, where
he spent eleven years of his life, and though admit-
ting the greater nicety of critical knowledge and
elegance of composition in the dead languages there
taught, was yet so impressed by the superiority, for
general students and practical life, of the Scotch
system of education, which aimed at the training of
youths " for the duties they would have to discharge
and the parts they would have to play in the living
communities in which they were to pass their lives,"
that though Vicar of High Ercal and Rector of
Rodington in England, he moved in 1800, at some
sacrifice and inconvenience, to Edinburgh, for the
education of his sons for professions.

In any case, these Kingston families showed
themselves very clear-sighted in considering that the
training and character of Mr. Strachan, afterwards
Bishop of Toronto, specially fitted him to take charge
of the instruction of youth in a new country.

When Dr. Stuart offered to the widow of his old
friend Christopher Robinson to take her son John
Beverley with him to Kingston, and place him at
school under Mr. Strachan, who was also tutor to
his own sons, it can be easily understood how
valuable to her was the helping hand he then ex-
tended.

No words can adequately express the debt of

"Autobiography of Sir Archibald Alison," by Lady Alison, 1883,
vol. i. p. 21.

i DR. STUART— MR. STRACHAN 17

gratitude which the descendants of Sir John Bever-
ley Robinson owe to Dr. Stuart,

He treated my father in all respects as his own
child, and later on, in 1803, Mrs. Christopher Robin-
son having in the meantime (5th September 1802)
married again, he joined with her husband, Mr.
Human, in sending him to Cornwall to continue his
education under Dr. Strachan there.

The latter had evidently by this time become
himself much attached to his pupil, being willing
to receive him " without reward," and as time went
on he became almost a guardian as well as friend
and tutor to him, ready always to assist him by
his advice and example, and also with his purse.

Writing to him on 25th January 1809, he
says : —

I must confess that I shall be uncommonly mortified if you
do not shine as a professional and moral man ; and that you will
1 in both is the reward I promise myself from our connec-
tion— and a disinterested one it is, though to me it will be

OUS.

This well expresses the only way in which such
kindness and friendship as that shown by Dr. Stuart
and Mr. Strachan can be repaid.

It may be said that in this sense their pupil en-
deavoured to repay them, and he held both in heart-
felt affection and regard throughout his life.

Having been born at Berthier, in Lower Canada,
on the 20th July 1791, my father was a little over
twelve years of age when he joined the Cornwall
School in November 1803.

The following is one of the earliest letters relating
to him, and was evidently delivered at Cornwall by
himself : —

B

18 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Dr. Stuart to Dr. Strachan.

KINGSTON, November 25, 1803.

DEAR SIR, — The immediate occasion of this letter is to
acquaint you with the circumstances which have furnished you
with another pupil — your old acquaintance, John Robinson.

In a conversation with Justice Powell, 1 happened to mention
your generous intention in proposing to take the bearer of this
even without reward. However, I added that I disapproved of
your proposal, as a thing not to be expected from a stranger
just commencing his career in the world, unacquainted with the
expense and troubles of housekeeping. I shall consider myself
bound, in conjunction with Mr. Beman, to indemnify you for
the time he is with you, till a permanent arrangement can
take place.

To hear of, and from you, will always give us pleasure.

And I am, Reverend and Dear Sir, your sincere friend and
brother, JOHN STUART.

The Reverend JOHN STRACHAN, Cornwall.
Mr. J. ROBINSON.

For four years, i.e. until August 1807, he con-
tinued at school in Cornwall.

It is unnecessary for me to enlarge upon the great
benefit derived by him from these four years. The
good results of the training imparted by Mr. Strachan
to his pupils are well known throughout Canada.

Into the occupations and amusements which filled
up his school life I need not enter either, but I have
heard that he joined very keenly in all games and
sports. As a youth he was a fast runner and active
generally, being named " The Young Deer " by the
Indians, who then frequented Upper Canada.

He was fond of poetry, and occasionally wrote
verses. From his boyish productions in the years

i MR. STRACHAN'S ADDRESS 19

1806-7 I select the following, not, of course, for
its intrinsic merit, but as being among his earliest
efforts : —

To Mr. Strtichmi on his Birthday.

II ll', 1807.

I low shall mv muse unskilled to please,
Attempt with unaffected ease

Tn eelebrale the day.
Which gave a father and a friend,
My life from danger to defend,
And guide my youthful way.

May each revolvin. uiml

My grateful heart IK>W good, how kind,

How gracious you have been.

Oh mav your goodness leave a trace,

\Vhieh length of time shall ne'er efface,

But whieh shall fix'd remain.

Although they have more than once appeared in
print in Canada, I make no apology for inserting here
some extracts from Mr. Strachan's address to his
pupils on the Cth August 1807, when several of them,
including my father, were about to leave the school
at Cornwall, for better advice has seldom been given
to youths entering upon the world, and the school life
and leaching at Cornwall unquestionably influenced
my father's whole career : —

I begin with an observation, which to many of you will
appear a little extraordinary. It is this, that one of the

greatest advantages von have derived from your education
here ari->es from the strictness of our discipline. Those of you
who have not already perceived how much your tranquillity
depends upon the proper regulation of the temper, will soon
be made sensible of it as you advance in years. . . .

We- should not forget that the situation of human affairs

20 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

never allows any one to be, at all times, his own master. We
are restrained on every side by limits which we cannot, or ought
not, to pass. That discipline, therefore, which you have some-
times thought irksome, will henceforth present itself in a very
different light. . . .

Next to the due regulation of the passions and melioration
of the temper, we place those habits of diligence and application
to which you have been accustomed in the prosecution of your
studies.

If they are not acquired in youth, they are very seldom
attained. They are certainly the foundation of all future
excellence, for how can any person advance in his professional
studies or transact his business with correctness and prompti-
tude, unless he be accustomed to application ?

In conducting your education, one of my principal objects
has always been to fit you for discharging with credit the
duties of any office to which you may hereafter be called. To
accomplish this, it was necessary for you to be accustomed
frequently to depend upon and think for yourselves. I have
always encouraged this disposition, which, when preserved
within due bounds, is one of the greatest benefits that can
possibly be acquired.

You are to remember that we have laid only the founda-
tion, the superstructure must be raised by yourselves. . . .
It is not by flying from subject to subject and skimming the
surface of science that much knowledge is gained, but by
proceeding slowly and correctly, never leaving any subject
till it be thoroughly understood. A mass of information
huddled up in a mind not accustomed to correctness of think-
ing is of little use. Be patient, diligent, and methodical, and
you will make rapid progress.

When you are qualifying yourselves to discharge with
dignity the duty of your professions, you must not forget that
something more is necessary to render business pleasant.
You must behave in a kind, affectionate manner to all who
have intercourse with you. We may be correct in our deal-
ings, we may discharge with fidelity the duty of our station,
and yet become disagreeable.

We may treat people with indifference, superciliousness, or

i DR. STKACHANS PUPILS *J1

neglect ; we mav indulge a moroseness of disposition which
shall disgust where we meant to conciliate, and raise up
enemies where we wished friends. The civility of manners
uhieh I would recommend flows from the heart; it consists
in showing a proper regard for the feeling> of others.

. . . Having exhorted you at some length, in another
place, always to cherish our Holy Religion, I shall not say
anything further at present. Sillier me, however, to remind
you that he who wishes to be a good man and ri>e in moral
excellence, must begin with being a dutiful child. Obedience
to parents is the forerunner of obedience to God.

l>efore I conclude allow me to recommend the cultivation
of friendship. The connections formed at school frequently
continue through life. This union, if founded on virtue, and
noiiri.>hed bv similarity of disposition and congenial souls, \\ill
be the delight of your future lives.

Twenty-six years after the above address had
been delivered, the old Cornwall pupils of Mr.
St radian, then Archdeacon of York, met together
(•2nd July 18&3) to present him with a piece of plate1
in gratitude to him as their tutor.

On that occasion the address was read by my
father, and forty-two old pupils signed it and joined
in the presentation, many of them holding respon-
sible positions in Canada, and some in distant parts
the world.

Mr. Strachan's acknowledgment of the address
largely explains the reason why the system he had
followed had so reached the hearts of his pupils.

I was strongly impressed from the first with my respon-
sibility as your teacher, and I felt that to be really useful,
I must become your friend. It has ever been my conviction,

1 This was a silver epergne, value about £230 sterling, the design «>f
which was supiM-inti-iidfd in London by Thomas Campbell, the poet,
author of "The Pleasures of Hope/' and W. Dacros Adams.

22 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

that our scholars should be considered for the time our children,
and that, as parents, we should study their characters and
pay respect to their peculiar dispositions, if we really wish to
improve them, for if we feel not something of the tender
relation of parents towards them, we cannot expect to be
successful in their education.

It is evident from his correspondence with his
pupils after they had left school that while there
he had identified himself with all their interests and
amusements ; and no one who recollects him person-
ally (as I can do, though only at a later period of his
life) can fail to understand the influence which his
manly character gave him over boys.

Uniting, in a remarkable degree, as has been well
said, "fascination with force," he treated his pupils
as his own children, while he maintained a very strict
discipline ; noting their individual tempers, their fail-
ings, and their talents, and constantly stimulating or
repressing as he thought wise.

Such a system naturally left its mark for good
upon the youth of my father's generation brought
under Mr. Strachan's influence in Canada.

Two months after leaving Cornwall, i.e. in October
1807, my father entered as a student the office of Mr.
D'Arcy Boulton, then Solicitor-General of Upper
Canada, and remained with him three years.

Mr. Strachan speaks of executing, with the con-
sent of Mr. Beman, an indenture for him to be clerk.

I shall take the necessary steps to secure you for five years
from getting clear of the yoke. I hope, however, you will not
find it burdensome.

His course of reading during this period seems
from his note-books to have been comprehensive.

i COURSE OF READING 23

In addition to various treatises upon law, it
included a careful study of Virgil, Horace, Pliny,
Plutarch, Hume's History of England, Robertson's
History of America, Palcy, the Speeches of Pitt,
Krskine, Fox, and others, Shakespeare, Bolingbroke's
Works, Milton and various poets. Upon the Bible
there are very full notes, especially on Job, the
Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, and Ecck-siastrs, and among
them the following text specially scored in pencil :—

Till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me, my
righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go, my heart shall
not reproach me so long as I live. — Jon, xxvii. 6.

He also took a leading part in a debating society
got up among his fellow-students.

The following letters show the continued interest
evinced in him by Dr. Stuart and Mr. Strachan
throughout the time he was studying for the Bar : —

Mr. Strachan to John B. Robinson.

CORNWALL,, K-liruary 1808.

. . . You must learn to be very careful of your matters —
economy is the root of true independence — and to show you
that your allowance is not so small as you niav imagine, my
own expenses for Cloaths do not average more than sixteen or

; i teen pounds per annum. It is true many people spend
six times as much, but I do not think it adds anything to
their respectability. The difficulties you have at present to
encounter will be of great use to you in future. No man can
be great, or perhaps very good, who has not received lessons
from adversity. . . .

Dr. Stuart to John B. Robinson.

KINGSTON, June 30, 1808.

DEAR JOHN, — Your very kind affectionate letter was
delivered to me by Mr. Boulton, and though you have greatly

24 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

overrated any little benefit you received from me or my
family, yet as it evidences the goodness of your heart, I con-
sider the whole as the genuine effusion of a grateful mind.
I have been long in the habit of considering you as a child,
and consequently am deeply interested in your future prospects
and success in the world. . . .

There is no medium in the profession you have chosen;
you must either rise to eminence and respectability or sink to
the level of a pettifogging attorney in some obscure part of the
country. I can only add that you have my good wishes at all
times, and if an opportunity offers in which I can give you
some more substantial proof of my friendship, you will be
convinced at least of my good intentions. Mrs. Stuart was
particularly pleased with the part of your letter in which her
name was mentioned. I need only say she is as much your
friend as ever. — I am, dear John, your affectionate and sincere
friend, JOHN STUART.

Addressed to

Mr. JOHN B. ROBINSON,
Student at Law, York.

The want of perseverance and inclination to satire,
alluded to in the next letters, were never apparent,
I think, in my father in later life.

Evidently some squib he had written was the
occasion of the last, and perhaps the tendency it
showed disappeared, because it was sharply and wisely
disapproved of at once.

Mr. Strachan to John B. Robinson.

CORNWALL, January 25, 1809.

. . . There is one rock from which you are in danger, that

is the want of perseverance. This defect I endeavoured, while

you were here, to correct. Endeavour yourself to conquer this

Never conceive it possible for another to do anything

in the way of your profession which you cannot also do. If

i DR. STUART'S DEATH

you lose in the race after every effort to gain the victory, you
lose with honour; but to be distanced is always disgr
ful. . . .

The Same to the Same.

CORNWALL, >>/-//-mVr HO, 1800.

. . . The interest I naturally take in your welfare forces
me to take up the subject of my disapprobation again. I find,
as I had anticipated, that the lines you made had given offence
to the parties concerned.

I am willing to make every allowance for what is past, but
I must require your promise never to write satire upon any-
body. The empty laugh of the malignant is but a small
remuneration for hurting the feelings of your neighbour. I
do not speak of the badness of the verses and incasur--.
it was obvious to yourself, but you will shut every door against.
you by indulging a satirical propensity, and you will quickly
find yourself surrounded by enemies.

The year 1811 was to be a sad one. In it my
father lost his tried friend, Dr. Stuart, and his
youngest sister, Esther. His legal studies in Mr.
Houlton's ofHce were also interrupted, in consequence
of the latter having been taken prisoner by the French
privateer Grand Due dc Rcrg^ on a voyage to
England. For a time it was thought that he had
died of wounds he was known to have received in
the capture of the ship — The Minerva — he had
sailed in.

The following is Dr. Stuart's last letter : —

KINGSTON, January 31, 1811.

DEAR JOHN, — ... I shall always consider you as my sixth
son, and if I live long enough to have an opportunity of aiding
and assisting you to procure a desirable establishment in life,
I shall consider it a fortunate circumstance.

Although my health is as good as persons at my time of

26 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

life generally experience, yet I feel the love of ease and retire-
ment daily gain ground, and what I ought principally to keep
in view is how to make my exit with decency and comfort.
My grandchildren begin to be an interesting sight— eight fine
boys and two girls.

Mrs. Stuart and Jane join in love to you. The former
wishes to see you in your old position at her elbow ; indeed,
you have not by long absence lost any ground in her affectionate
remembrance, and, — I am, dear John, your affectionate friend,

JOHN STUART.

JOHN B. ROBINSON,

Student at Law, York.

My father writes thus to Dr. Strachan on Sep-
tember 18, 1811 :—

Dr. Stuart's death affected me very much. The unbounded
kindness with which he has always treated me would have com-
pelled me to love him. ... I can hardly reconcile to my mind
the idea of never seeing him again. I have also, it grieves me
to say, a nearer affliction to mention, the death of a good,
affectionate, young sister. She died on the first of this month.
Dear Hetty was sixteen years old. ... Poor little soul; she
is in heaven, if a spotless conscience and a heart of tender-
ness and goodness can claim a seat there. I was much by
her bedside, from the time the quinsy broke.

. . . Mr. Boulton, I fear, will never greet our eyes again.
D'Arcy has had a letter from Mr. Franklin, saying that all the
intelligence he can procure of Mr. Boulton, after several months'*
diligent inquiry, is from two sailors, who, being taken with
him, had volunteered into a French privateer, and been taken
by an English ship. They state Mr. Boulton was very badly
wounded, that when the rest were marched into the interior
he was left in the hospital at Dieppe, and they have never
heard of him since. I hope we may soon be relieved from
so distressing an uncertainty. Mrs. Boulton continues pretty
well.

i MACDONELLS OF GLENGARRY -J7

The fears which were entertained as to Mr.
Boulton's safety were happily unfounded. He re-
covered from his wounds, and after three years'
confinement in the fortress of Verdun, was released,
and returned to Canada.

My father has alluded to his having completed
his legal studies (owing to Mr. Boulton's detention
in France) in the office of Lieutenant -Colonel
Macdonell, M.P. for Glengarry, " a most honourahle
and high-minded man " ; and he was certainly fortu-
nate in being thus thrown into intimate contact
with one of so high a professional and personal
character.

The services which have been rendered to the
Empire, and at critical junctures, by the family of
Macdonell of Glengarry, have been great, and the
Glengarry Highlanders, well known in Canada, have
distinguished themselves on the battlefields both of
the Old and the New World.

Among other noted members of this family, I
may mention Colonel (afterwards General Sir James)
Macdonell, celebrated for his determined defence of
the important post of Hougoumont at Waterloo ;
Colonel George Macdonell, C.B., whose name is
inseparably connected with De Salaberry's brilliant
success at Chateauguay, and who commanded at the
capture of Ogdensburgh in the war of 1812-15 ;
Bishop Alexander Macdonell, churchman and man
of affairs, active in the war of 1812-15, and chaplain
during it to the Glengarry Light Infantry ; and lastly
Colonel John Macdonell,1 in whose office my father
was now enrolled, and who fell in the forefront of

1 Great-uncle of the present John A. Macdonell, K.C., of Greenfield.
Alexandria, Glengarry, Canada.

28 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

the battle at Queenston Heights, when serving as
A.D.C.1 to General Brock.

While in Colonel Macdonell's office, my father
took some duty in connection with the House of
Assembly in addition to his legal work, of which
he thus speaks : —

My first public service was rendered while I was still a
boy, under an appointment from Major-General Sir Isaac
Brock, then President of the province, to supply temporarily
the place of the Clerk-Assistant to the House of Assembly,
Mr. Donald Maclean, who afterwards (in April 1813) gallantly
joined the Grenadier Company of the 8th Regiment with his
musket, and was killed in endeavouring to repel the attack of
the enemy upon Toronto. . . . He being ill, I performed his
duty for him.

It was in one respect a gratifying commencement, for at the
conclusion of the session the House passed unanimously a very
flattering resolution, commending my services, and adding a
substantial mark of their approbation,2 which I had not at
all looked for.

Though not called to the Bar until a few months
later, his student days were now practically over-
Inter arma silent leges

—and a time of trial for Canada was approaching,
which was to interrupt all the avocations of civil life.

1 Being an officer of rank he combined the duties of Military Secretary
and Aide-de-C'amp.

2 The Assembly voted £50 as a mark of their approbation of his
" extraordinary attention to the duties of the office."

CHAPTER II

THE AMERICAN WAR— CAMPAIGN OF 1812

Outbreak of war — Volunteers for service — Capture of Fort Detroit— Meets
Bnu-k and Tenmi-r - (Jem-nil Hull anil other prisoners to

Chippewa — Ordered to Niairara frontier -Battle of Queenston Heights

— Death of Brock and Macdonell, and advance under ( Jeneral Shea Ho

. orts Colonel Scott and other prixmers to Kingston- -Interment
of Brock and Macdonell Remarks on advance from York to Detroit

— Mentioned in despatches for conduct at Cjueen-ton — Colours taken
at Detroit and Queen-ton, ami their sul>>e<|uent history — Articles
of capitulation of Fort Detroit— Letters of Dr. Strachan Military
services of the Bench and Bar of I'pper Canada --Remarks with
re-peet to (ieneral Brock's operations; prudence of his ad\ a
Detroit

My Father's Account, taken from his Memoranda, <§*c.

IN 1811, the late Honourable William Allan1 was captain
of a company of Militia in the town of York, which he took
pains to make efficient.

Under the new Militia Act of 1812, flank companies were
formed in each battalion of men who volunteered for active
service in case of war; and Mr. Allan became captain of one
of these companies, in which I and most of the young gentle-
men of the town were enrolled as privates.

The Attorney-General, Macdonell, with whom I v
student, went upon General Brock's staff as Provincial A.D.C.

As the prospects of invasion came nearer we were taken
into garrison, and became soldiers for the time.

In June 1812 the American Government declared war,
having been engaged for some time before in collecting and
forming a force for the invasion of Canada, which, about 3000
strong, had been making its way through the Western States

1 Father of the late Honourable G. W. Allau of Moss Park, Toronto.

29

30 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

to Detroit, under the command of General Hull, who was then
Governor of the Michigan territory.

As soon as the intelligence of the war and of this move-
ment reached Toronto, General Brock with a party of soldiers
rowed across the lake to Niagara to make such arrangements
as he could for the defence of the frontier there, and immedi-
ately returned to York in the same boat, called out the
Militia, and addressed them on the Garrison Common. He
had then received information that General Hull with his
force had crossed the Detroit River to Sandwich, which they
plundered, and had marched down to Amherstburg, where
a small detachment of the 41st Regiment under Colonel
Proctor held out against him ; also, that a troop of American
Dragoons had made their way through the Western District
to Delaware, receiving the submission of some of the inhabi-
tants, and being willingly joined by others, who had recently
emigrated to Canada from the United States.

General Brock told us that his intention was to go up at
once to the Western District along the shore of Lake Erie,
in boats, with such force as he could collect, and to embark
at what is now Port Dover ; that his means of transportation
were so limited that he could take but 100 volunteers from
York, the same number from the head of the lake (Hamilton),
and an equal number from Port Dover. . . .

I had by that time received a commission as lieutenant.1
Many more men volunteered than could be taken, and I believe
all the officers — General Brock had to select the few2 that were
required, and I had the luck to be one. My brother-in-law,
Captain Heward, was appointed to command the 100 men, and
my brother,3 who had raised a rifle company, was allowed to
find his way by land, to join us in the Western District.

We marched from Burlington Bay to Long Point on
Lake Erie, and went from thence, in boats, up the lake to
Amherstburg.

1 My father's commission to be " Lieutenant in the 3rd Regiment of
York jVlilitia of which William Chewett is Lieutenant-Colonel," is dated
the 17th April 1812. He was posted to Captain Reward's company.
It is mentioned elsewhere that four were selected.

3 Peter Robinson.

ii CAPTURE OF FORT DETROIT J31

General Hull crossed l the Detroit River on hearing
of the approach of General Brock's very inferior four,
and shut himself up with about 2500 men in the fort (of
Detroit).

On the 15th August General Brock arrived at Sandwich,
and on the morning of Sunday the 16th he crossed the river
with his small force of 700 men, besides the Indians, who we re-
sent into the woods, and was advancing to the assault, when
General Hull sent out a flag of truce, and surrendered the
fort with his army and the whole Michigan territory. All
but the regular troops were allowed to depart on their
parole.

I was sent with a party of the York volunteers, and an
officer of the 41st Regiment with a party of his men, to take
possession of the fort, and substitute the British flag for the
American.

On being relieved from duty the next morning, I had
the pleasure of breakfasting with Sir Isaac Brock and with
Tecumseh at an inn at Detroit. My short experience of
soldiering was uncommonly lucky, for the fort being full of
stores of all kinds, my share of prize-money as a lieutenant,
which I received in due time, came to £90 and upwards,
and the captors of Detroit being honoured by her Majesty
with a medal,2 I have this unusual appendage to a judge's
equipment.

A few days after the surrender I came down with Cap-
tain Heward and a part of his company on board the
Queen Charlotte, armed brig, as a guard with General
Hull and part of the regular force3 that surrendered at
Detroit. General Brock returned to Fort Erie in a small

1 i.e. retired over it again to the American side.

2 The war medal (granted in 1847 for Peninsular and other campaigns
between 17(J3 and 1814) was issued, with clasp for " Fort Detroit/' to all
those who had been present at the capture of that fortress. My father
only received this medal, therefore, about 1848.

8 There were on board Brigadier-General William Hull, Captain
Abraham Hull, his A.D.C. ; Lieutenant-Colonel J. Miller, commanding
4th Regiment U.S. Infantry; Joseph Watson, A.D.C. to Governor of
Michigan; and others — in all, 12 officers, 134 privates, 8 women, and 4
children. The men chiefly belonged to the 4th Regiment U.S. Infantry.
The prisoners were being conveyed to Fort Erie, and thence to Halifax.

32 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

sloop, having as a guard the Militia rifle company, com-
manded by my elder brother (Peter), which had gone up
by land to Sandwich and joined us there. We left the
prisoners, whom we had brought down, at Chippewa, where
there was a company of the 41st Regiment, and I returned
with our 100 volunteers to Toronto.

After a few days, the strength of our detachment being
much augmented, both in men and officers, we were sent to
the Niagara frontier under Captain Duncan Cameron, as
senior captain ; Captain Heward and Captain Selby from
East Gwillimbury were with us, and among the subalterns
were M'Lean, G. Ridout, S. P. Jarvis, Stanton, and myself.1
We were stationed at Brown's Point, between Niagara and
Queenston, and had two batteries in charge, the men being
drilled in the use of the guns by a bombardier of the Royal
Artillery. The Americans were concentrating their forces at
Fort Niagara and Lewiston, and evidently intended to invade
the province somewhere on that line.

On the night of the 12th October 1812, they began crossing
at Queenston, and were met by the small force that could be
hastily collected, our main regular force being quartered in
Fort George.2 The York volunteers, being near the point
of attack, were early engaged.

What follows now is from a letter written by my
father the day after the battle.

The rough of this letter, with alterations and
erasures, as he had first written it, was found among
his papers, endorsed " Account of the Battle of
Queenston, written at the time," and although the
rough does not show to whom it was addressed, it
was most probably written to Dr. Strachan.3

1 Most of the above officers had been my father's schoolfellows at
Cornwall.

2 Fort George, Niagara, was about seven miles from Queenston.

3 A fair copy of this rough, with some slight alterations and additions,
was found among the papers of Mr. Thomas Ridout, but without any clue
to the writer or to whom it was written, and was published by Lady
Ivlgar in "Ten Years of Upper Canada in Peace and War, 1805-15."

ii BATTLE OF QUEENSTOX 83

The letter has the interest of being the story of a
young officer engaged in the fight — his first serious
battle — and of having been penned when every event
was fresh in his memory, and the emotions aroused
were still keenly felt ; so, with the exception of a few
lines of no importance, I have given it, though long,
/// c.vtciiso.

BROWN'S POINT, Ortnln-r 14, 1812.

MY DEAR SIR, — The affair of yesterday terminated so
gloriously for this province, and does so much honour to its
spirited defenders, that I hasten to give an account to you,
whom I know to be most warmly interested in the present
cause of our countrv.

I am anxious to detail to you the particulars, because I
know your heart will glow with fervour at our success, while
it feelingly and sincerely laments the price at which it was
purchased.

Few things occurred which I had not an opportunity of
observing, and what I did see, from its novelty, its horror,
and its anxiety, made so awful an impression on my mind,
that I have the picture of it all fresh and perfect in my
Imagination.

About half-an-hour before daylight yesterday morning (the
13th of October, Tuesday), being stationed at one of the
batteries between Fort George and Queenston, I heard a heavy
cannonade from Fort Grey on the American side, situate on
the height of the mountain, and commanding the town of
yueenston. The motions of the enemy had, for a few days
previously, indicated an intention to attack. The lines had
been watched with all the vigilance that our force rendered
possible, and so great was the fatigue which our men underwent
from want of rest and exposure to the inclement weather which
had just preceded, that they welcomed with joy the prospect
of a field which would be decisive, and set them more at ease
for the future. Their spirits were high, and their confidence
in the General unbounded.

Our "party, which was merely an extra guard during the

C

34 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

night, returned to Brown's Point, our main station, which is
about two miles in a direct line from Queenston.

From our battery there we had the whole scene most dis-
tinctly in our view. Day was just glimmering. The cannon
from both sides roared incessantly, shells were bursting in the
air, and the side of the mountain above Queenston was illumined
by the continual discharge of small arms. The last circum-
stance convinced us that some part of the enemy had landed ;
and in a few moments, as day advanced, objects became visible,
and we saw numbers of Americans in boats attempting to land
upon our shore, amidst a shower of shot of all descriptions,
which was skilfully and incessantly levelled at them.

No orders had been given to Captain Cameron, who
commanded our detachment of York Militia, what conduct
to pursue in case of an attack at Queenston ; and as it had
been suggested to him that, in the event of a landing being
attempted there, the enemy would probably, by various attacks,
endeavour to distract our force, he hesitated at first whether it
would be proper to withdraw his men from the station assigned
them to defend. He soon saw, however, that every exertion
was required in aid of the troops engaged above us, and resolved
to march us immediately to the scene of action.

On our road, General Brock passed us. He had galloped
from Niagara in great haste,1 unaccompanied by his aide-de-
camp or a single attendant. He waved his hand to us, and
desired us to follow with expedition, and galloped on with full
speed to the mountain. Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell and
Captain Glegg passed immediately after.

At the time the enemy began to cross there were two com-
panies of the 49th Regiment (the Grenadier and Light Company)
and, I believe, three small companies of Militia to oppose them.

Their reception was such as did honour to the courage
and management of our troops. The grape and musket balls,
poured upon them at close quarters as they approached the
shore, made incredible havoc. A single discharge from a field-
piece directed by Captain Dennis himself (the captain of the
49th Grenadiers) killed fifteen in one boat.

1 About seven miles.

IT BATTLE OF QUEENSTON s:>

Three of their batteaux landed at the hollow below Mr.
Hamilton's garden in (^iieenston, and were met by a party of
Militia, who slaughtered almost the whole of those in them,
taking the rest prisoners. Several other boats were so shattered
and raked that the men in them threw down their arms, and
came on shore merely to deliver themselves up prisoners of

war.

Thus far, things had proceeded successfully; and the
General, on his approach to the spot, was greeted with the
happv intelligence that all our aggressors were destroyed or
taken. As we advanced with our company we met troops of
Americans on their way to Fort George under guard, and the
road was lined with miserable wretches, suffering under wounds
of all descriptions, and crawling to our houses for protection
and comfort.

The spectacle struck us, who were unused to such heart-
rending scenes, with horror; but we hurried to the place, im-
pressed with the idea that we had conquered, and that the
business of the day was done.

Afresh brigade of four boats had just then crossed, and our
troops, who had been stationed on the mountain, were ordered
down to dispute their landing. No sooner had they descended
than the enemy appeared in force above them. They had
probably landed before the rest, while it was yet dark, and
h id remained concealed by the rough crags of the mountain.
They possessed themselves instantly of our battery on the
height.

General Brock rushed up the mountain on foot with some
troops to dislodge them ; but they were so advantageously
posted, and kept up so tremendous a fire, that the small
number ascending were driven back.

The General then rallied the men, and was proceeding up
the right of the mountain to attack them in Hank, when he
received a ball in his breast. Several of the 49th assembled
round him. One poor fellow was severed in the middle by a
ball, and fell across the General. They succeeded, however,
in conveying the General's body to Queenston.

Just at this instant we reached Queenston. We were

36 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

halted a few moments in Mr. Hamilton's garden, where we
were exposed to the shot from the American battery at Fort
Grey and two field-pieces directly opposite us, and also to an
incessant fire of musketry from the side of the mountain.
One of our poor fellows had his leg shot off in the ranks
by a ball which carried away the whole calf of another
lad's leg.

In a few minutes we were ordered to advance to the
mountain. The nature of the ground and the galling fire
prevented any kind of order in ascending. We soon scrambled
to the top, at the right of the battery which the Americans
had gained, and were in some measure covered by the woods.
There we stood, and gathering the men as they advanced,
formed them into line ; the fire was too hot to admit of delay.
Scarcely more than fifty were collected, of whom about thirty
were of our company, headed by Captain Cameron and three
of our subalterns. The remainder were the 49th, commanded
by Captain Williams.

Lieutenant- Colonel Macdonell was there, mounted, and
animating the men to charge, seconded with great spirit and
valour by Captain Williams. But the attempt was unsuccess-
ful, and must have been dictated rather by a fond hope of
regaining what had been lost by a desperate effort than by
any conviction of its practicability. The enemy were just in
front, covered by bushes and logs, and were three or four
hundred in number. They perceived us forming, and at about
thirty yards1 distance fired.

Colonel Macdonell, who was on the left of our party, most
heroically calling upon us to advance, received a shot in his
side, and fell. His horse was the same instant killed. . . .
Captain Williams, who was at the other extremity of our
small band, fell the next instant, apparently dead. The re-
mainder of our men discharged their pieces, and retired down
the mountain. Lieutenant M'Lean1 was wounded in the thigh,
and Captain Cameron, in his attempt to save Colonel Mac-
donell, exposed himself to a shower of musketry, which he
most miraculously escaped. He succeeded in bearing off his

1 Afterwards Chief- Justice M'Lean.

VB

OC

as

wl

"I
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i

ii BATTLE OF QUEENSTON 87

friend ; and Captain Williams recovered from the wound in
his head iii time to make his escape down the mountain.

This happened about ten oYlock. Our forces rallied about
a mile below. . . . General Shealle, with the 41st from I'ort
about 300 in number, came up soon after with the
field-pieces and Car Brigade.1 All the force that could be
mustered was collected, and we marched through the fields
back of Queeiiston, ascended the mountain on the right, and
remained in the woods in rear of the enemy till intelli.L
was gained of their position. During this time, the Americans
were constantly landing fresh troops unmolested, and carrying
back their dead and wounded in their return boats.

About three o'clock, (Jeneral Shealle advanced through the
woods towards the battery on the mountain, with the main
body and the field guns on the right : the Mohawk Indians,
under Captain Norton, and a Niagara Company of Blacks,
proceeded along the brow of the mountain on the left; and
our company of Militia, with the Light Company of the 49th,
broke through in the centre.

In this manner we rushed through the woods to our en-
camping ground on the mountain, which the enemy had
occupied. The Indians were the first in advance. A> soon

they perceived the enemy they uttered their terrific war-
whoop, anil commenced a most destructive fire, rushing rapidly
upon them. Our troops instantly sprang forward from all
quarters, joining in the shout.

The Americans stood a few moments, gave two or three
neral volleys, ami then fled by hundreds down the mountain.
At that moment, Captain Bullock, with 1~;0 of the 41st and
two Militia Hank companies, appeared advancing on the road
from Chippewa. The consternation of the enemy was com-
plete. . . .

They had no place to retreat to, and were driven 1 y a
furious and avenging foe, from whom they had little mercy to
expect, to the brink of the mountain which overhangs the
river. They fell in numbers. . . . Many leaped down the

1 The " Car Brigade " of Artillery was largely ooin;><.-e<l of farmers'
sons who had voluuteered to horse the guns with their draught horses.

38 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

side of the mountain to avoid the horrors which pressed upon
them, and were dashed to pieces by the fall.

A white flag was observed, and with the utmost difficulty
the slaughter was suspended. Two officers who brought it
were conducted up the mountain to General Sheaffe. A ces-
sation of hostilities for three days was agreed upon.

Thus ended the business of this day, so important and so
interesting in its occurrences to the inhabitants of this pro-
vince. The invasion of our peaceful shores has terminated in
the entire destruction of their army and the total loss of every-
thing brought over.

The number of Americans landed is unknown, and cannot
be easily ascertained by us, but we know that we have taken
nearly, or perhaps quite, 1000 prisoners, with more than fifty
officers, undoubtedly their bravest and best. Still we have
much to sorrow for. Our country has a loss to deplore which
the most brilliant success cannot fully atone for. That General
who had led our little army to victory, whose soul was wrapped
up in our prosperity, and whose every energy was directed to
the defence of our country, is now shrouded in death.

Who will not sympathise in another misfortune nearly
related to this. . . . That heroic young man,1 the constant atten-
dant of the General, strove to support to the last a cause which
should never be despaired of, but he was not destined to witness
its triumph. I have mentioned the manner of his death. His
career was short, but honourable ; his end was premature and
full of glory. He will be buried at the same time with the
General. . . .

Our company of volunteers suffered considerably. One
man was killed, and eleven wounded, most of them badly. But
all these, though melancholy circumstances, are the inevitable
consequences of war; and grateful should the inhabitants of
this province be to Heaven if, by a sacrifice of some of its
gallant defenders, it can save itself from unjust aggression, and

1 Refers to Lieutenant-Colonel Macdonell, A.D.C. to General Brock,
who survived the mortal wound he had received for about twenty-four
hours only, and in this interval a mail arrived from England which
brought out the King's confirmation of his appointment to be Attorney-
General.

ii ACTING ATTORNEY-GENERAL 39

preserve to our Mother Country a possession which has ever
heen the object of its affection.

Our troops will have received fresh courage from their
victory, and the cool though determined and vigorous conduct
of General Sheaffe,1 and the gallant behaviour and spirited
exertions of every officer tinder his command on that occasion,
claim from us every confidence in the anticipation of the future.

The above concludes the account of the Battle of
" Queenston," or " Queenston Heights," as it is often
called.2 I continue now from my father's memo-
randa, &c. : —

Two davs afterwards I was sent with a guard of the York
Militia, commanded by Major Allan, on board one of our
armed vessels, with a number of prisoners, to Toronto and
Kingston on their way to Quebec.

Colonel, now Lieutenant-General, Scott — the present Com-
mander-in-Chief ' of the United States Army — was among them,
and Captain Wool, now General Wool ; and, as crossing Lake
Ontario was not then the business of a few hours, but generally
took an indefinite time, from two days to ten, we became very
well acquainted.

We had a tedious passage, being several times driven back
by westerly winds. When we came to the wharf at Niagara
many of my friends were there to meet us, and I was warmly
congratulated upon M my appointment." I could not imagine
what my good fortune was, but thought I might possibly have
been made a captain, which would have astonished me not a
little. They soon astonished me much more by informing me
that in my absence I had been made Acting Attorney-General
in the place of my late master, Colonel Macdonell, whom I had

1 Whatever may have been the mistakes or shortcomings <>f

on other orca-ions in this war, ho showed vigour and determina-
tion at this ori>is. ;ind for his ^rrviees wa> rivaled a baronet.

2 In the official Army List, and on the colours of regiments, the
spelling: is " (^uoenstown."

:; (uMicral Scott was Commander-iii-Chief of the United States Army
from 1841 to 1861, and died in 1866.

40 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

seen fall at the head of our Militia after General Brock had
been killed.

I was then but a few weeks over twenty-one years of age,
and was only a law student, though entitled to be called to the
Bar, my five years being just completed.

I may add to my father's account, given in the
preceding pages, of the campaign of 1812, that at the
interment of General Brock and Lieutenant-Colonel
Macdonell at Fort George on the 16th October, he
was one of the pall-bearers of Lieutenant-Colonel
Macdonell.

Afterwards, on 13th October 1824, he was pre-
sent at the removal of their remains to the monu-
ment erected upon Queenston Heights, and on 30th
July 1840 took a prominent part in the meeting held
for the purpose of rebuilding that monument, which
had been partially destroyed by some criminal hand.

It may be mentioned here, too, that nearly half a
century after the events of 1812, he was (on 7th July
1860) deputed by the survivors of the war to present
their address of welcome to the Prince of Wales on
his arrival in Canada.

In the advance from York to Detroit some very
hard work was entailed upon the small body of
regulars and Militia, of which my father formed one.

In the journey by water from Long Point to
Amherstburg, it was only after five days of excessive
exertion, in open boats, in hot, windy, and rainy
weather, and proceeding constantly by night, that
they reached the latter place.

Referring to the volunteer company he was with,
my father says : —

This body of men consisted of farmers, mechanics, and
gentlemen, who, before that time, had not been accustomed

ii THE MARCH TO DETROIT 41

to any exposure unusual \\ ith persons of the same description
in other countries. They marched on foot, and travelled in
boats and vessels, nearly ()()0 miles, in going ami returning,
in the hottest p:irt of the year, sleeping occasionally on the
ground, and frequently drenched with rain; but not a man
wa> left behind in consequence of illn

And writing in his Diary many years afterwards
(7th April 1851) on a journey from Simcoe to Port
Dover, he says : —

I noticed about a quarter of a mile before we reached
Dover an old painted farmhouse in which we spent two or
three days in 1812 (waiting for General Brock's arrival), OUT

men being quartered in the barn of old \Vinant Williams, the
fanner who owned the house.

How few are alive now — General Brock, Colonel Nichol,
Colonel Maedonell, Major Salmond, mv poor brother, Captain
Ileward, Richardson, Jarvie — all gone; but there is the old
farmhouse with its comfortless-looking porch and dilapidated
tes looking not very different from what it did then.

wu

.

nes:

General Brock thus testifies to the spirit with
which these troops met the call made upon them :—

In no instance have I seen troops who would have endured
fatigues of a long journey in boats with greater cheerfui-
ss and constancy, and it is but justice to the little band to
add that their conduct throughout excited my admiration.

In General Brock's orders of 16th August 1812,
after the surrender of Fort Detroit, Captain Ileward,
in whose company my father was serving, and Captain
Peter Robinson were both desired to assure the officers
and men under their command that their exertions
*• had been duly appreciated, and would never be for-
gotten " ; and in General Sheaffe's despatch of 13th
October 1812 my father was mentioned by name as

1 From " Canada and the Canada Hill " (1840).

42 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

having at the battle of Queenston Heights "led his
men into action with great spirit."

Major Richardson, in his History of the War,
describing the entry into Fort Detroit, after the ar-
rangements for its surrender had been made, says :—

A guard of honour consisting of an officer and forty men
were immediately formed to take possession of the fort. The
command of this devolved upon the officer who had led the
advanced guard, Lieutenant Bullock, and among those of the
Militia who were attached to his party, and had first the
honour of entering the fortress, were the present Chief-Justice
Robinson, Samuel Jarvis, Esquire, Superintendent of Indian
affairs, and Colonel William Chisholm of Oakvilb. . . .

The American flag was lowered, and a Union Jack, which
a blue-jacket had brought with him, hoisted ir its place.

In his account of the Battle of Queenston
Heights he thus mentions my father :—

Again, on this occasion was the present Chief-Justice
Robinson conspicuous for his zeal and gallantry.

In the absence of his captain (Reward) who was upon
leave, he commanded the Second Flank Company during the
whole of the day. He consequently bore a prominent part in
the engagement, from the moment when he arrived at early
dawn from Brown's Point, where he was stationed with No. 1 —
or Captain Cameron's — Company, to the late hour in the after-
noon, when victory finally perched on the British standard.

Colonel W. F. Coffin also, in his " Chronicle of
the War of 1812 " thus alludes to him :—

The British had been exasperated by the fatal event of the
morning (the death of Brock). The men of Lincoln and the
"brave York volunteers," with Brock on their lips and reven/
in their hearts, had joined in the last desperate charge, an<
among the foremost — foremost ever found! — was John Beverlej
Robinson. His light, compact, agile figure, handsome fa(
and eager eye, were long proudly remembered by those wh(
had witnessed his conduct on the field.

ii COLOURS TAKEN 43

The Colours of the 4th Regiment United States
Infantry, which were in a room in Fort Detroit in
which four American officers had been killed by the
fire of the batteries from the Canadian hank of the
river, were formally handed over by the officer com-
manding that regiment to Lieutenant Bullock.

At Queenston Heights one Colour was captured.

The subsequent history of these Colours will be
of interest to Canadian readers.

(icncral Brock, writing to Sir George Provost,
says that he sends to him, by Captain Glegg his
A.D.C., "the Colours taken at Detroit, and those
of the 4th Regiment United States Infantry," l and
by Sir George they were sent to England by his
A.D.C. Captain Coore.

They were first deposited in the Chapel Royal,
Whitehall, whence, in 1835, they were transferred,
with the Eagles and other trophies in that chapel,
to the Royal Hospital at Chelsea.

The Colour taken at Queenston Heights, which
belonged to a regiment of New York Militia, was
sent to England by Sir George Prevost, in charge
of his A.D.C., Captain Fulton, and is thus described

the Quebec Mercury of November 1812 : —

It is made of blue, or purple-coloured changeable silk,
about a yard and a half square, with the arms of the United
Slates on one side, and those of New York 2 on the other —
both surrounded by a, circle of stars.

This Colour also was first deposited in the Chapel

1 (Jem-nil Brock's despatch to Sir George Provost, August 17,1812.
Probably there was a Fort Standard as well as the Colours of the 4th
i nited State- Infantry, ^ee footnote, page -\-\.

2 The American Kagle perched upon the globe, above a shield showing
the sun rising over water. Supporters at each side of the shield, one with
a cap of liberty. Motto, " Excelsior."

44 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Royal in Whitehall, and thence transferred to
Chelsea.

The above Colours are still in the Royal Hospi-
tal, Chelsea, having been recently restored as far as
possible. During the three years (1895-98) that I
was Lieutenant-Governor and Secretary of the Hos-
pital I saw them constantly, one of them in good
preservation hanging close to my pew.

That taken at Queenston, and one Colour (the
National) of the 4th United States Infantry form the
subject of a plate in " Naval and Military Trophies "
by William Gibb and Richard Holmes. Much of
the silk of the former has disappeared, but the Arms
on each side are in good preservation.

When in England in 1815 my father saw them,
with others, in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, and
thus alludes to them in his Journal (24th November
1815) :—

Here (i.e. in the Chapel Royal), on the west side, is the
Colour taken from the Americans at Queenston, placed by
them on our battery when they gained possession of it just
before Brock fell.

It was taken by a private militiaman of one of the Chippewa
companies in our advance under Sir Roger SheafFe in the after-
noon, and presented to him on the field. I saw him with it
round him on the field. I have heard that the gallant fellow
who seized it on the battery while the enemy were yet there
\\iis suffered to remain unrewarded.

Next this Standard are three Ensigns of Fort Detroit, and
on the opposite side is the small Ensign of Fort Niagara.1

1 Evidently from this, and the wording of General Brock's despatch
to Sir G. Prevost of August 17, 1812, the two Colours of the 4th
Regiment United States Infantry were not the only ones sent to England
fr«.in Detroit. The Ensign of Fort Niagara was forwarded to England hy
Colonel Murray, in charge of Mr. Bramptori, his staff officer. It cannot
now be identified with certainty among the flags which hang in the Royal
Hospital, Chelsea.

ii CLOSE OF MILITARY CAREER 4.5

It may easily be imagined that my feelings were quite alive
to the most pleasing reflect ions on viewing four Standards, out
of five which I had seen taken from the enemy, depo>itcd
among the trophies of the most splendid victories of modern
limes, ranged with the Eagles and tri-colonred Hags of France.
. . . Alas! poor Brock, how much thy country owes thee.

The " Articles of Capitulation " of Fort Detroit,
signed by Brock and Hull, and which had been
•rved among General Brock's papers, were, many
years after these events, presented to my father
by Mr. Ferdinand Brock Tapper, author of "The
Life of Brock," and are now in the possession of my
brother Christopher.

The following extract is from a letter from Dr.
Strachan to my father, then on the Niagara frontier,
shortly before the battle of Queenston Heights : —

YORK, S.ptnnl,,',- \\\, IJJlL'.

DKAR JOHX, — I have been much gratified with the «;•
reputation which you have obtained as an excellent officer. It
is an earnest to me that you will be first in your profession,
>on as you are admitted to the Bar. At present you do
well to turn all your attention to excelling in your duty as an
officer, and you will find vour reward. . . .

Yours affectionately, Jonx STKACHAN.

My father closed what may be termed his military
career after the battle of Queenston Heights.

Many varied incidents of war had been seen by
him by the time he was but little over twenty-one
years of age.

He had taken an active part in the defeat of
two invasions of Upper Canada, been present at
the capture of a fortress with £40,000 worth of
prize, and been escort on two occasions to sur-
rendered officers of rank and prisoners of war.

46 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

The chances of war had led, through the taking
in a sea fight of one civil chief, and the lamented
death in battle of another, to his appointment to the
vacant post of Attorney- General of Upper Canada.

It was a very exceptional experience ; and it must
be also exceptional that in Canada, within thirteen
years, viz., between 1828 and 1841, seven judges l were
sitting on the Bench, all of whom had seen fighting
in the Revolutionary War, or in that of 1812-1815,
and two of them had been severely wounded.

These were Sir William Campbell, Judge Boulton,
Sir J. B. Robinson, Sir J. B. Macaulay, Chief-Justice
M'Lean, Judge Jones, and Judge Hagerman.

In fact, almost the whole Bench in Upper Canada
at that time, and many members of the Bar, may be
said to have received a training in war.

It has been considered by some that the capture
of Fort Detroit was, at best, an instance of extra-
ordinary good fortune, crowning a desperate venture.

In short, that the advance against the fort was
an act of such audacity and rashness, when the
position and strength of the opposing forces are
compared, that it hardly deserved the success which
attended it, and was a risk scarcely justified.

Fort Detroit was a regular work, of solid con-
struction, covering about an acre of ground. It
had four bastions, the whole being surrounded by
palisades and a deep ditch. The parapets were
some twenty feet high.

It was armed with thirty-three pieces of brass
and iron ordnance of various calibres, including
several 24-pounders, and garrisoned — in the work,

1 Four of these became Chief- J us tices.

ii CROCK'S OPERATIONS 47

town, and camp around it — by a force of some 2500
men, which consisted partly of regulars, and was
commanded by a general officer of experience in
the field.

To advance, in broad daylight, against a for
so garrisoned, and unhreached by artillery, witli a
mixed force of 700 regulars and Militia and (KM)
undisciplined Indians may appear, at first sight,
almost Quixotic.

Nevertheless, to view it in this light is unjust
to the reputation of Brock.

His resolution to advance and demand the sur-
render of Fort Detroit is a proof not alone of his
courage, but also of his penetration and correct grasp
of the situation in which he was placed. He showed,
in fact, those qualities which combine to make a great
leader as well as a determined soldier.

My father says l as to this : —

... It has, I know, Sir, in the many years that have
elapsed, been sometimes ohjerted that General Crock's cor

.•venter than his prudence — that his attack on Fort Detroit,
though it succeeded, was most likely to have failed, and was
therefore injudicious.

Those who lived in Upper Canada while these events were
passing can form a truer judgment. They know that what to
some may seem rashne.vs was, in fact, prudence : unless, indeed,
the defence of Canada was to be abandoned.

And at the moment when the noble soldier fell (alluding to
Queenston), it is true that he fell in discharging a duty which
might have been committed to a subordinate hand . . . but
he felt that hesitation might be ruin : that all depended upon
his example of dauntless courage, of fearless self-devotion.

It is true his gallant course was arrested by a fatal wound —
such is the fortune of war ; but the people of Canada did not

1 Speech at Queenston Heights on 30th July 1840.

48 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

feel that his precious life was thrown away, deeply as they
deplored his fall.

In later periods of the contest it sometimes happened that
the example of Brock was not very closely followed. It was
that cautious calculation, which some suppose he wanted,
which decided the day against us at Sacketfs Harbour; it
was the same cautious calculation which decided the day at
Plattsburg; but no monuments have been erected to record
the triumphs of those fields. It is not thus that trophies
are won.

General Brock's published letters l show that, for
many months before the outbreak of the war, he had
been urging the importance of retaining possession of
the Detroit district.

On February 12, 1812, he writes to Sir George
Prevost : —

I set out with declaring my full conviction that unless
Detroit and Michilimackinac be both in our possession im-
mediately at the commencement of hostilities, not only the
district of Amherstburg, but most probably the whole country
as far as Kingston, must be abandoned. . . .

When, therefore, in consequence of Hull's in-
vasion, he hurried to Detroit, it can be seen that
he looked upon the expulsion of the enemy as a
vital matter.

The situation was critical. Delay almost certainly
meant failure, for while he himself could look for no
immediate addition to his strength, large American
reinforcements were but a few marches off.

A success, on the other hand, would rouse the
spirit and confidence of the country, decide the al-
legiance of the Indians, confirm the wavering, and
overawe the disloyal. Everything depended upon

"Life of Sir Isaac Brock/' by F. B. Tapper, 1847.

ii BROCK'S OPERATIONS 49

prompt action. It must be remembered that Brock
had much to fear from disaffection, especially in the
western district. On 3rd February 1812, he writes :
" The great influence which the settlers from the
I Hited States possess over the decisions of the Lower
House is truly alarming." Some measures also, in-
troduced by Brock himself and urged on that House
for the safety of the province, had been thrown out.
Colonel George Deuison, in an address delivered at
Toronto on 17th April 1891, has well emphasised this
point.

At this juncture, lie became aware, from inter-
cepted letters and despatches, that General Hull was
disappointed at not having- been received with open
arms by the inhabitants generally, and nervous as to
the safety of his communications ; that he had be-
come dispirited to the extent of fear, and had lost
the confidence of both officers and men.

Under such circumstances it was certainly not
rashness, but genuine prudence, which determined
Brock to first demand the surrender of the fort,
and then move boldly towards it.
. Many leaders would have shrunk from this re-
sponsibility. There can be no question that, had he
failed, the movement would then have been con-
demned as rash to culpability ; and, so far as his
personal reputation was concerned, it is not too
much to say that he was less likely to suffer in the
opinion of his superiors by avoiding than by accept-
ing such a risk.

But no such considerations swayed him, and
from his own letters given below, we learn why he
crossed the Detroit River, and that it was with no
intention of running his head blindly against the

D

50 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

ramparts of Fort Detroit, though circumstances, after
he had crossed, determined him to assault the fort
itself, combining with this an attack by the Indians
upon the camp adjoining it.

As he had anticipated, Hull surrendered before
the assault was delivered, and it is more than pro-
bable that had that General awaited the assault, the
same despondency which this pusillanimous surrender
shows to have existed, would have made his resist-
ance a feeble and a vain one.

Major-General Brock to Sir George Prevost.1

HEADQUARTERS, DETROIT,
August 17, 1812.

... I crossed the river with the intention of awaiting in a
strong position the effect of our force upon the enemies' camp,
and in the hope of compelling him to meet us in the
field ; 2 but receiving information upon landing that Colonel
M'Arthur,3 an officer of high reputation, had left the garrison
three days before with a detachment of 500 men, and hear-
ing soon afterwards that his cavalry had been seen that
morning three miles in our rear, I decided on an immediate
attack.

Accordingly the troops advanced to within one mile of the
fort, and having ascertained that the enemy had talten little or
no precaution towards the land side, I resolved on an assault,
whilst the Indians penetrated his camp*

Brigadier-General Hull, however, prevented this movement
by proposing a cessation of hostilities for the purpose of
preparing terms of capitulation.

1 " Life of Sir Isaac Brock/' by F. B. Tupper.

8 In order to free his communications and line of supplies, and secure
their safety.

Second in command of the American Army.

4 The lines in italics have heen placed so by me to draw attention to
them.

ii BROCK'S OPERATIONS 51

.Ifajor-General Brock to his

LAKE ONTARIO, September 3, 1812.

You will have heard of the complete success which attended
the efforts I directed against Detroit. . . . Some say that
nothing could he more desperate than the measure; but I
answer that the state of the province admitted of nothing
but desperate remedies.

I got possession of the letters my antagonist addressed
to the Secretary at War, and also of the sentiments which
hundreds of his army uttered to their friends.

Confidence in the General was gone, and evident despond-
ency prevailed throughout. I crossed the river contrary to the
opinion of Colonel Proctor, . . . &c.; it is therefore no wonder
that envy should attribute to good fortune what, in ju>tice to
my own discernment, I may say proceeded from a cool calcula-
tion of the pours et contres . . . Let me know, my dearest
brothers, that you are all again united. The want of union
nearly losing this province without a struggle, and be
assured it operates in the same degree in regard to families.

It has always been felt, and rightly so, through-
out Canada that the success of the campaign of 1812
was due largely to what Sir James Macaulay termed
'* the talismanic influence and ascendency of Brock
over his fellow-men — to the Nelsonian spirit that
animated his breast."5

As to this, my father writes : 3-

I do most sincerely believe that no person I have ever seen
could so instantly have infused, under such discouraging cir-
cumstances, into the minds of a whole people the spirit which,
though it endured long after his fall, was really caught from
him.

The repulse of the first invasion of Upper Canada

1 " Life of Sir Isaac Brock," by F. B. Tupper.

2 Speech at Queenston Heights, Wth July 1840.

3 Letter to F. B. Tupper, Esq., lUth January 1846.

52 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

at Detroit was due chiefly to the foresight, the energy,
and the correct judgment of General Brock ; that of
the second invasion, at Queenston Heights, was due
very possibly to the example of his courage and the
resolution to avenge his death.

On this account, and because he gave his life for
his country, Brock will ever remain the hero of
Upper Canada.

A brave soldier, an able leader, and a good man, who
honoured by his life and ennobled by his death the soil on
which he bled.1

1 W. F. Coffin, " Chronicle of the War of 1812."

CHAPTER III

CLOSING YEARS OF THE WAR, 1813-15

Called to the Bar — Appointed Acting Attorney-General — Duties during
the war Situation in Canada — Leiral qiie>tions arii-inir, and trials of
prisoners for treason II is >er\ ices acknowledged by Sir (Jordon
Drurnmond — The Peace — Ceases to be Acting Attorney-! ieneral —
Becomes Solicitor-< leneral - Determines to qualify for English Bar
— Armistice on the Niagara frontier— Letter from Dr. Straehan —
Further connection with the Militia- < )ccujiation of York, 1813 —
Fir-t leiral opinion ^iven by him K\rri '.>ns and privations of
Canadian Militia — Patriotism >hown — More knowledge of this war
desirahle— Loyal and Patriotic Society — Occupations and amuse-
ments at York, 1813-14 — Sir Frederick and Sir William Robinson
— Defensive measures advocated by my father — Importance of com-
mand of the Lakes— Letter of the Duke of Wellington— Effect on
Kiiirlaiul and Canada of the Wars of the American Revolution,
177-"> -»."», and of 1812-15 — Letter from Sir (iordon Drurnmond
as to application for leave — Sails for England in the sloop-of-war
Moryinna — The voyage, cod fishing off the Banks — Journey to
London.

From my Fathers Memoranda.

I HAD not yet been called to the Bar, and could not be till
next term (Michaelmas 1812); but though I went over to
York then for that purpose, the few Benchers of the Law
Society were so occupied with military duties, and so dispersed
through the province, that there was no convocation.

In those days, when York (now Toronto), the seat of
Government, was but a small village, with scarcely 700 in-
habitants, there was not much to distract the attention of
law students; and those who did not read must have been
firmly resolved to be idle. I had read much less than I
should have done, but much more than I believe was usual,
and so had perhaps the reputation of being studious.

On the last day of Michaelmas term, 14th November, I
was called to the Bar by a special Rule of Court ; but it was
not till Hilary term, 1815, when the war was nearly concluded,

53

54 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

and the Militia had been relieved by large reinforcements of
regular troops, that the Law Society resumed their usual
meetings with a legal quorum, and thenceforward there was
no interruption.

A statute was passed in 1815, which was drawn up by
the late Dr. Baldwin, for sanctioning what had been done
irregularly during the suspension, and preventing any injury
to those who had been unable to procure admission properly
as barristers or law students while the war was going on.
For the credit of the profession in those primitive days, all
ought to read this Act,1 for it is a record honourable to the
men and boys of that time.

Sir Roger Sheaffe, who had succeeded Sir Isaac Brock in
the command and in the civil government, had made my
appointment (to be Acting Attorney-General) in my absence.
I had only seen him once as he passed our station on the
river, and again during the action at Queenston, and had no
acquaintance with him. When I waited upon him, which I
did the day I landed, he told me that he had placed me in
the office at the suggestion of Mr. Justice Powell, who was
an old and intimate friend of his.

From that time until the end of the war in 1815, I con-
tinued to be the only Crown officer in Upper Canada, the
Solicitor-General being still detained a prisoner at Verdun
in France.

In my first interview with Sir Roger Sheaffe, I had a
case submitted to me rather formidable for a beginner, viz.,
whether the inhabitants of the Michigan Territory, which
was conquered when Hull and his army were taken, could
be compelled to render service to the British Crown as
militiamen while the war was still going on. It was the
first legal Opinion2 I had been called upon to give.

The first brief I held in any case was at the Assizes at
York (Toronto) in March 1813, when, as Acting Attorney-
General, I preferred an indictment against one Shaw for
murder, who was properly acquitted.

1 See Appendix A., I.

2 For this Opinion, see page 60.

in TRIALS OF PRISONERS 55

The conquest of the Michigan Territory gave rise to
various questions of public law respiting the duties and
rights of its inhabitants, in which the Government acted by
my advice.

During the war, as the military service went on and
difficulties accumulated, various doubts were started about
the exercise of martial law, statutes had to be framed to
meet the exigencies of the time, and military officers had to
stained in the Civil Courts against actions brought by
the inhabitants of the country for acts done, not always very
discreetly, under the pressure of the public service.

In all these defences I happily succeeded, and I have a
letter from General Sir Gordon Drummond acknowledging in
warm terms the nature of the services which I had rendered.1

In December 1812, the York Militia had been withdrawn
from the Niagara frontier. When spring came, the enemy,
having command of the Lakes, brought a large force to
Toronto, and succeeded in taking posse.^sion of it, which
they held for a few days, when they next attacked Fort
George at Niagara, which they also took, and established
themselves there, the British force falling back to St. Cathe-
rines. Through that summer and in the following year the
enemy held possession of a large portion of the Niagara
District. Some of the inhabitants (chiefly those who had
come in before the war from the United States) being
disaffected, gave what assistance they could to the enemy,
conveying information, and aiding in plundering their loyal
neighbours. Others enlisted in a corps that was raised for
the service of the enemy by a Mr. Willcocks (formerly, it
was said, an United Irishman), who was at the time one of
the members of the Assembly of Upper Canada, and who
was shot in the ranks of the enemy in an attack upon Fort
Erie.

General de Rottenburg, who succeeded Sir Roger Sheaffe
in the government of Upper Canada, had as many of the

1 Referring:, most probably, to a letter from Sir Gordon Drummond, of
2fith March 1817, to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, given
in Chapter V.

56 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

traitors apprehended as could be got hold of; and after I
had examined and reported on all the cases, Sir Gordon
Drummond, who became Governor in December 1813, directed
a special Commission to issue for their trial.

When I had made all the necessary preparations, and was
ready to proceed with the trials, Sir Gordon Drummond
became so strongly impressed by representations made to
him by military officers and others that it would be impos-
sible to obtain a conviction from juries of the country, and
was so perplexed with the difficulties which he imagined
must attend the proceeding with these trials while the enemy
occupied part of the same district, that he wrote to me ex-
pressing his conviction that it would be unwise to persevere,
and that the Commission must be abandoned, at least for
the present.

I remonstrated, stating the injurious effect this would
have upon public feeling, and venturing to assure him that
it was impossible the prosecutions could all fail. He allowed
the trials to proceed; and out of twenty-one prisoners tried
for high treason, seventeen were convicted upon the clearest
evidence.1

In these trials there were no Crown officers to assist me,
I had no one to share the responsibility with me of Public
Prosecutor, and the enemy were all the time in possession
of a part of the district in which the Court sat. I mention
it as a curious fact that, so far as my department as Attorney-
General was concerned, the whole expense to the Government
was, I think, about £4>5Q. What would have been the cost
in England?

Thus by the ordinary course of law, by the result of fair and
legal trial by juries of the country, in which the defendants
had all those opportunities and advantages of defence which
the law, peculiarly indulgent in such cases, has provided for
them, the Government were enabled to make those examples
which completely secured the province against treason and

1 Kingsford, in his "History of Canada," vol. viii. p. 471, gives the
nes of eight of these prisoners in whose cases the extreme penalty of

names

the law was carried out.

in MADE SOLICITOR-GENERAL 57

rebellion during the remainder of the war, and which it was
very generally imagined and imprudently asserted could only
be effected by the exercise of less constitutional jurisdiction.

Executions of traitors by martial law would have had
comparatively little influence ; the people would have con-
sider^! i IK-HI as arbitrary acts of vengeance, but would not
have acknowledged them as the natural effects of justice.

Peace came in 1815, and we had happily got well through
all difficulties. The Solicitor-General had obtained his liberty
and returned from France to England. The Government in
England, very justlv, promoted him to be Attorney-General,
and made me Solicitor-General,1 my appointment as Attorney-
General having been only provisional and temporary. I
not yet in the Legislature, no election having occurred since I
became of age; and, desiring to see England, and to free
mv.H-lf from the disadvantages of a rule, which was said then
to prevail in the Colonial Office, to appoint no one to be
Attorney-General, or Chief-Justice, of a colony who was not
a member of the English Bar, I obtained leave of absence
from Sir Frederick Robinson, who was then our Lieutenant-
Governor, and went to England in September 1815, with the
intention of keeping as many terms in Lincoln's Inn as my
leave would allow.

The Government kindly gave me as long a leave as they
could, and the Secretary of State extended it, so as to enable
me to keep, I think, eight or nine terms at Lincoln's Inn ; but
I was obliged to return before I could complete twelve terms,
which was the requisite number, and I could not, at anv rate,
have been called to the English Bar till I had been of five years'
standing in the books, though my twelve terms could have
been kept in three years. I thought myself fortunate in get-
ting so near the accomplishment of my object. The Secretary
of State was most indulgent in granting so long a leave, and
I suppose was induced to do it by the letters which Sir Gordon
Drummond and Sir George Murray, under whom I had served,
wrote on my behalf.

1 His commission as Solicitor-General is dated February 6, 181.5.

58 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

An armistice of thirty days upon the Niagara
frontier was agreed to, after the battle of Queens-
ton Heights, but at its conclusion the war was
resumed, though the campaign for that year was
virtually over.

On returning to the army (after escorting the
prisoners to Kingston), and being informed of his
appointment to be Acting Attorney- General of the
Upper Province, my father appears not to have gone
back to York, with a view to being called to the
Bar, as promptly as was expected.

Dr. Strachan writes to him : —

YORK, November 9, 1812.

DEAR JOHN, — All your friends are astonished that you
have not come over to the term in order to be admitted to
the Bar. Not being aware of what may have detained you,
I doubt not but you have a satisfactory reason. My object
in writing is to request you to get leave of absence instantly,
and come over with the first vessel. Do not delay a moment
for baggage. You have no time to lose, as the term is nearly
expired. . . .

We are all well, and salute you affectionately,

JOHN STRACHAN.

After proceeding to York, my father wrote thus
to General Sheaffe :—

December 12, 1812.

In the flank company of Militia to which I belong, there
are two subaltern officers, besides myself : and, if I should be
ordered to remain here, may I be suffered still to retain my
commission, so that I shall have some certain character to
appear in, when any particular occasion shall call for the assist-
ance of all.

He was evidently instructed to take up his civil
duties as Attorney-General, though he apparently

CAPTURE OF YORK

59

stained his commission in the Militia force. He
gazetted captain, 25th Dec-ember 1812. :*rd
Regiment York Militia ; major, 21st January 1820,
2nd Regiment York Militia ; colonel, 1st January
1823, 2nd Regiment East York Militia. On March
11, 1813, his name appears in Militia orders as one
of a board of officers appointed " to examine into
and report on all claims for disbursements or for
services performed for militia purposes in the Home
and Niagara districts."

Though he never again took the field, he witm
in 1813 the occupation of York, which was taken by
the enemy during the time when the American fleet
was superior on Lake Ontario.

On this occasion lie accompanied Colonel Chewett
and Major Allan, who had been deputed by General
Shcatte to make the best terms possible with the
United States officer in command.1

By the terms of the capitulation, the troops,
regulars and militia, at York, became prisoners of
war, and the Americans secured all public stores,
naval and military.

Private property wras to be respected, but this
condition was not duly observed, and some of the
public buildings were burnt to the ground.

For some time to come, my father's duties and
occupations were more or less closely connected with
the war, though of a civil nature, and some of the
work which devolved upon him as Attorney-General
must have been onerous and perplexing for one so
young.

He has mentioned that the first legal opinion he

1 " Memoir of Bishop Strachan," by Bishop Bet
Kingsford's "History of Canada/' vol. viii., p. iv.:>, fte,

Bethune, 1870, and

60 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH

had to give was whether the inhabitants of the
Michigan Territory, which was conquered when
Hull and his army surrendered, could be compelled
to render military service against the United States
as militia while the war was still going on.

A rather curious point was here involved. In
the capitulation between Brock and Hull no mention
of the Michigan Territory was made, although the
proclamation issued by Brock, immediately after the
capitulation and on the same day, commences with
the words : " Whereas the Territory of Michigan
was this day by capitulation ceded to the arms of
His Britannic Majesty."

My father's opinion is thus recorded : —

December 22, 1812.

I am of opinion that they cannot. By the capitulation of
the 16th August 1812, Fort Detroit only, with the troops,
regulars as well as militia, were surrendered to the British
forces. The consequent proclamation issued by General Brock
does include the Michigan Territory, but that is merely an
instrument ex parte, proceeding from the capitulation ; and
whereas it contradicts it, it can have no effect.

He continued to take a great interest in every-
thing connected with the welfare of the Militia, whose
privations during the campaign of 1812 had been
great.

It has seldom been otherwise with our troops
when called upon, after many years of peace, to
enter upon a campaign. Arrangements for equip-
ment, clothing, and transport had to be hastily carried
out, and were far from satisfactory.

General Brock writes : —

ii STATE OF THE MILITIA r,l

February 12, 1812.

I have not a musket more than will suffice to arm the active
of the Militia from Kingston westward.

And on July 3rd —

The King's stores are now at so low an ebb that they
scarcely furnish any article of use or comfort. Blankets,
iversacks, and kettles all to be purchased, and the troops,
lien watching the banks of the river, stand in the utmost
iced of tents.

Again on July 12th —

The Militia assembled in a wretched state with regard to
clothing. Many were without shoes, an article which can
scarcely he provided in the country. Should the troops have
to move, the want of tents will be severely felt.

The 2500 stand of small arms captured at Detroit
were of infinite value.

Friends in York, however, were not forgetful, and
did all they could on behalf of the soldi crs.

Dr Strachan writes thus to my father while he
was still on the Niagara frontier : —

November 22, 1812.

MY DEAR JOHN, — In consequence of a hint in the letters of
Mr. G. Ridout and Mr. Robert Stanton to their respective
fathers, the gentlemen of York met to-day in the church for
the purpose of subscribing towards the comforts of the Militia
belonging to this district on actual service, especially the Hank
companies.

Our subscription, though not yet paid, amounts to «£J150,
and we wish your and Captain Reward's advice how to dispose
of it for the most advantage of the men. Your brother,
Captain Robinson, thinks that the captains of the York
Militia should make a requisition upon the Quartermaster-
General for flannel sufficient to make two shirts for every one

G2 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

that wants them, and thread, &c., to make them up, together
with a pair of stockings for each, and we will supply the
captains with the amount. If there is any difficulty in making
them up, we can get it done here instantly. The Militia will
be much pleased when they know with what alacrity the sub-
scription proceeded.

To Lieut. JOHN B. ROBINSON, Brown's Point, by Niagara.

In December 1812 the "Loyal and Patriotic
Society of Upper Canada " was formed in York.
Its original object was a double one : —

1. The aid and relief of the families of militiamen
in distress in consequence of the absence of husbands
and relations in defence of the province ; and
militiamen themselves, disabled in the service.

2. To reward merit and commemorate glorious
exploits by bestowing medals or other marks of dis-
tinction for extraordinary instances of courage or
fidelity shown by either the regular or militia forces.

Of this Society Chief- Justice Scott was president,
and the directors who attended the first meeting were
Judge Campbell, the Reverend Dr. Strachan, John
Small, William Chewett, my father, William Allan,
Grant Powell, and Alexander Wood (secretary).

A report of the proceedings of this Society was
published in 1817.

It not only shows the liberality of the subscribers
to its funds, but details all the hard cases of loss and
suffering relieved, with the estimated value of the
houses and property burnt or destroyed by the
Americans.

The Society was strictly a voluntary and private
one, and received no aid from Government funds.
Contributions came from England, Jamaica, Canadf
Xova Scotia, &c. Sir Gordon Drummond and Si]

in LOYAL AND PATRIOTIC SOCIETY 63

'

Roger Shcaffe sent liberal subscriptions, that of the
former being especially so, viz., £500 (his prize money
br the capture of Niagara).

The Militia garrison at Yore — all ranks — gave
one day's pay.

In all, C 17,000 was collected.

After dealing with the cases of distress caused by
the war, the hospital in Toronto was built in 1820
with the balance remaining in hand. Here those
who had been wounded or lost their health in the
service, and many others, obtained relief.

Kingsford, in his "History of Canada," vol. viii.,
,ge 235, thus speaks of this Society, in the adminis-
tration of which my father took a great and active
interest: —

It is a source of pride and satisfaction to know that the

object to effect which the "Loyal and Patriotic Society" was

formed was /ealously, ably, and unceasingly kept in promin-

, and that the duties it entailed were admirably performed.

Though Gl gold and 548 silver medals were struck
in England for this Society, they were, in the end,
never issued, both on account of the difficulty of
selecting those to receive them, and because it was in
many quarters considered an undue assumption for a
private society to confer medals for public military
service, this pertaining to the sovereign alone.

The design and fate of these medals is given in
Appendix A., II.

There was a determined resolution throughout
Canada to carry on the wrar, and every endeavour
was made to contribute to the comfort of the troops.

In an exhortation pronounced after the sermon,

64 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

or rather in continuation of it, at York on 22nd
November 1812, Dr. Strachan says :—

The time for forbearance is now past, and we must come
forward with courage and alacrity. We must not be anxiously
inquiring for flags of truce, for conditions of peace, for respites
from the war, but we must prepare for the event. . . .

England expects all her children to do their duty. It is
ours, at this moment, to comfort those who are fighting our
battles and defending everything dear to us at the hazard of
their lives.

It has been justly said by more than one writer
upon the war of 1812-15 that the exertions and
patriotism of the Canadian Militia as a body have
never been properly understood beyond Canada.

The reason of this probably is, that at the time of
the war public attention in England, and in Europe
generally, was engrossed by the struggle with
Napoleon, and also that the sense of defeat upon
the American Continent caused in England by the
result of the War of Independence, and by certain
reverses or failures in 1813 and 1814, upon the
Lakes, at Plattsburg, and at New Orleans, was so
general, that it has led many to the very erroneous
impression that the whole war we are now alluding
to was, in some way or other, a reverse.

Thus the victories of Detroit and Queenston in
1812 ; that of Chateauguay ; the wonderful night
attack at Stoney Creek, one of the most successful
in history ; the repulse at Chrystler's Farm ; the cap-
ture of Fort Niagara ; the defeat of several separate
invasions of Canada ; and the complete triumph in
the end of the British arms, have never met with
the general recognition which is their due.

\Vluit is much wanted is that the history of every

in WAR OF 1812 LITTLE KNOWN 65

portion of the Empire, and of how it has been built
up and maintained, should be made a special subject
of education in England and also in the Colonies.
My father, writing in England in 1839, says : —

It is often a subject of lamentation in the Colonies that so
little scums known in England of their actual condition, but I
doubt whether there is any reasonable ground for a complaint
on that score.

The people of this country, like their brethren in the
Colonies, probably study those things most which appear most
immediately and directly to concern them ; and, after all, I
daresay they know quite as much of us as we do of the British
Colonies in other quarters of the world.

Still, unquestionably, this is a branch of knowledge which
Imits of being better cultivated.

It is admittedly, however, better cultivated now
than it was in 1839. In the sixty years which have
elapsed since the above words were written, a great
change has taken place. Colonial subjects are now
studied as they never were before : the affection
between England and her Colonies has deepened ;
their pride and interest in each other is increasing
day by day ; and much is being done to cement
more closely the bonds which unite the Empire.
We may even go further now and hope for a time
when there will be a union, based upon mutual
respect, of the whole Anglo-Saxon race, though
serving under more than one flag.

During 1813 and 1814, my father's name appears
as one of the " Church Wardens and Town Wardens
of the Town of York." Also, though more serious
occupations must, while the war was going on, have
left him little time for the amusements natural to
his age, the following memoranda, found among his

E

^ Managers.

66 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

papers, show that he shared in these, and acted
as one of the managers of the York Assemblies in
January 1814 : —

Subscription for the York Assemblies.

To be held once a fortnight.

The subscribers to meet at Gilbert's, on Tuesday the 4th
inst., at 2 o'clock.

Military gentlemen stationed at York are permitted to
subscribe either for the night at 12/6 Halifax Cy, or for the
remainder of the season.

Subscribers are requested to call on Mr. J. Robinson, one
of the managers, to pay the amount of the subscription, 10
dollars, and receive tickets for the season.1

JOHN B. ROBINSON,
GRANT POWELL,

A ball had been previously given (in December
1813) to the ladies and strangers of York, to cele-
brate the announcement of the capture of Niagara
by storm on 19th December 1813. I

The names of the subscribers to these early enter-
tainments in Toronto may be of interest in Canada,
so are, together with some other details as to them,
given in Appendix A., III.

During the year 1814, peace having been made
with France, the British Government was able to
send out to Canada several of the regiments which
had fought under Wellington in Spain and the south
of France — a force amounting in all to about 16,000
men.

One of the brigades in this force was commanded
by General (afterwards Sir Frederick) Robinson ; 2 and

The first Assembly was held at O'Keefe's Tavern on Tuesday evening,
llth January 1814, dancing commencing at seven o'clock.
3 See Appendix B., III.

in SUGGESTIONS FOR DEFENCE 67

during the war his brother, Commissary - General
(afterwards Sir William) Robinson, had charge of
the commissariat department for some time.

My father thus made the acquaintance of both
these sons of Colonel Iteverley Robinson between
ic years 1813 and 1815 in Canada, and met them
several occasions, receiving no little kindness from
lem.

On the 24th December 1814, peace was, by the
Treaty of Ghent, signed between Great Britain and
the United States of America.

I will mention at this point, as it bears upon the
war, that my father, when in England in 1839, was
requested to put on paper the measures which, from
liis long acquaintance with the country, he considered
would most tend to give security and confidence to
Canada.

Writing then to Lord Normanby, Secretary of
State for the Colonies, 2!)th March 1839 (i.e., after
the experience of 1812-15 and of the occurrences at
Navy Island in the rebellion of 1837-38), he advo-
cated the following measures for defence : —

1. That to a moderate extent those naval establishments
should be restored upon the Lakes Huron, Erie, and Ontario,
which were continued for some time after the peace of 1815,
ami which it will probably never be safe to dispense with
hereafter.

£. That the attention of the Government should be given
to forming a naval depot at Penetanguishene, on Lake Huron,
that being a post which may be easily secured against attack,
and to which there is now no difficulty, since the completion
of the Welland Canal, in transporting the heaviest stores by
water.

3. That there should be established certain strong posts

68 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

in Upper Canada, as depots for arms and ammunition, in
which garrisons could be constantly kept sufficient to guard
them, and upon which the Militia could rally in case of in-
surrection or invasion. For instance, some points on the line
of the Rideau Canal, Kingston, Toronto, Burlington Heights,
London, Lundy's Lane, Chatham, Penetanguishene, — small
garrisons being kept up at Niagara and Amherstburg.

4. That some colonial corps be raised for a long period
of service in the British North-American Colonies only.

5. That at some two points in the province guns and
artillery stores shall be kept sufficient for the defence of the
province against any sudden emergency — e.g. at Kingston and
Burlington Heights.

6. That whatever may be done in the establishment of
posts, erection of barracks, &c., shall be done in such a manner
as to prove that the Government is pursuing a deliberately
settled plan of defence, with the intention of maintaining the
dominion of the Crown permanently. I mean by this that
mud forts and wooden barracks are not the description of
defence calculated to give confidence on one side or discourage
restless spirits on the other.

My father also says, in " Canada and the Canada
Bill" (1840):—

Fourteen or fifteen years ago, when the Duke of Wellington
was in office, he determined to erect a work in a commanding
position near the Niagara frontier, which would have included
an arsenal, and formed a rallying-point for the Militia of the
country. The site of the intended work was purchased, and
measures were in progress for commencing it; but a change
in the affairs of this country (England) led to an abandon-
ment of the design, and the land was relinquished to the
former owner. If such a defence, however limited in extent,
had been completed, and had been garrisoned by 200 men,
who could probably nowhere else have found a cheaper quarter,
the movement at Navy Island (during the rebellion of 1837-38)
and its whole train of consequences would have been pre-
vented.

in DEFENCE OF CANADA 69

Elsewhere (see chap. iv.), in connection with the
projected removal of the capital from York (Tor-
onto), he also touches upon the importance and
defensibility of York at this time.

Certainly one #rcat lesson taught by the war, and
>y the way in which success during it fluctuated with
the command of the Lakes, is the vital importance of
this command to Canada.1

In connection with this, the following letter from
Duke of Wellington to Sir George Murray"
lould never be lost sight of:—

To L'h-ntcuunt-General Sir 6Vor»v J///ra7/y, K.B.

PAIU>. i::_W l),;;-n<t,,>r 1814.

. . Whether Sir George Prevost was right or wrong in
lis decision at Lake t'hamplain is more than I can tell, but
of this I am very certain, he must equally have retired to
Kingston, after our fleet was beaten, and I am inclined to
believe he v\as right.

I have told the Ministers repeatedly that a naval superiority
the Lakes is a .sine qua non of success in war on the frontier
Canada, even if our object should be solely defensive, and I
hope, when you are there, they will take care to secure it for
you. — Believe me, &c., WELLINGTON.

It may be of interest to give my father's opinion
as to the effects which the separation of the Ameri-
can Colonies from Great Britain in the Revolutionary
War, the war of 1812-15, and some other circum-

1 I am aware that the maintenance of any men-of-war upon the Lakes
in time of peace is now regulated by treaty with the United States; but,
not forgetting this, there is still much in the above s indirection deserving of
serious consideration now, having regard to the difficulty of securing the
p;i.— Hire of gunboats through the canals and to the American establishments
on the Lake borders.

2 " Despatches of the Duke of Wellington/' Gurwood, vol. xii., p. 224.

70 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

stances, have had upon Canada, in respect more
especially to the maintenance and strengthening of
British connection.

Writing in 1839,1 he says : —

By those who are sufficiently humble to believe in the exist-
ence of a superior intelligence, it is very frequently remarked,
as they pass through life, how much better matters have been
ordered for them by Providence than they would have been
ordered by themselves.

Let any one look attentively at the map of North America,
and mark what were once the possessions of Great Britain upon
that Continent, and what portion of them she still retains.
Then let him consider how frequently, and even within the
present century, historians and statesmen have lamented the
loss of those immense colonies (such as no nation ever before
possessed) which form now the Republic of the United States.
We have heard by turns the policy condemned which led to
the revolt, and the military blunders deplored which rendered
it successful. . . .

But no one who desires that the British power should con-
tinue for ages to maintain its ground in North America can
now think these events unfortunate.

They (the Colonies) must soon have outgrown the conditions
in which they would have required protection; they have
already long outgrown it ; and the conflicting interests of
trade, with the inconveniences which mere distance occasions
in the exercise of an actual superintendence, would sooner or
later have produced desires strong enough to overbear the
feelings of attachment and the sense of duty . . . more
especially in Colonies settled as these have been.

But is it not clear that if the event had been delayed, those
other possessions upon the American Continent which Great
Britain still retains would have become peopled with colonists
of the same description, and that when at last the struggle
came, all would have gone together ?

> "Canada and the Canada Bill/' written and published by him whil<
in England, 1839.

in \VARS— EFFECT OX CANADA 71

If we admit, as I think we must, that the circumstance of
the older colonies having severed the connection at so early a
date has been in fact the means of saving the present British
provinces to the Mother Country, it is scarcely less certain that
the war of 1812, which was engaged in by the United States
mainly for the purpose of subjugating the Canadas, has
had the effect of binding them much more strongly to the
Crown.

Nor are these the only circumstances, supposed at the time
to be unfortunate, in which events have strongly tended to the
reservation of British power on that Continent (America).

Every one knows that at the conclusion of the American
Revolutionary War in 1783, by some strange mismanagement
of the British negotiators, there was ceded to the late American
Ionics not mt'ivlv their independence, but with it an hum.
'gion to which they had no claim — I mean that Western and
North- Western territory which is now becoming the abode of
millions.

This, too, has been reckoned a misfortune, but a little con-
sideration, I think, will convince us that, after all, it is not to
be regretted.

A country of such boundless extent, of such variety of
climate and production, to a great part of which the Mississippi
and not the St. Lawrence is the natural outlet, would hardly
have been maintained for a long period in dependence on the

; British Crown.
... In the event of war, the territory would have been much
o remote a field for British forces to have acted in with effect,
r they would have been too distant from their resources.
. . . Being divided from the United States by no natural
Boundary, the amalgamation of a people speaking the same
language would long before this time have proceeded to such
an extent as to decide, almost silently, the question of country.
... I do really believe, therefore, that the Englishman
who desires that his country should retain a permanent footing
upon that Continent (America), and the British-American
colonist who earnestly hopes, as the bulk of them do, that the
connexion may continue while the British name lasts, have

72 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

both of them reason to rejoice in the facts I have adverted to,
and to be more than contented that matters now stand pre-
cisely as they do. . . .

To pass on now from the subject of the war.
When, after the peace, Mr. Boulton returned to
Canada from his imprisonment in France, and was
appointed Attorney-General, relieving my father,
who was nominated to be Solicitor-General, from
the duties he had been provisionally performing,
the latter's project of proceeding to England for
the purpose of travelling and qualifying for the
English Bar was assisted in every way by Sir
Gordon Drummond, the Lieutenant - Governor of
Upper Canada, who wrote the following letter on
his behalf to Sir George Murray, then about to
succeed him as Lieutenant- Governor : —

CASTLE OP ST. Louis, QUEBEC, May 1, 1815.

MY DEAR SIR GEORGE, — Allow me to introduce to your
favourable notice Mr. Robinson, the Solicitor-General in your
province, who is a young man of most exemplary character
and talents, that afford every prospect of his becoming both an
ornament to the province and a most zealous and able supporter
of the interests of the Crown.

... I should not have hesitated for a moment to have met
his views in regard to visiting England for the laudable purpose
of being there called to the Bar.

I shall therefore hope his application will meet your coun-
tenance and support, and I beg you will believe me to be, my
dear Sir George, your faithful and humble servant,

GORDON DRUMMOND.
Lieut-General Sir GEORGE MURRAY, G.C.B.

But though he then obtained leave of absence,
unexpected and urgent business delayed his depar-
ture, and it was not until some few months later
that he left Canada, with leave for six months from

in SAILS FOR ENGLAND 73

the 1st of September 1815, granted by Sir Frederick
Robinson, then Provisional Lieutenant-Go vernor of
the Upper Province.

Uis voyage to England in the sloop-ol
Morg'uindi Captain Xewton, in which he was given
a passage from Quebec to Portsmouth, was remark-
able as being one of the fastest, if not the fast
ever made under sail.

While staying at Quebec waiting for a favour-
able wind, a violent contrary gale having set in, he
was assured that the Morgiann could not sail for
some length of time, but suddenly at night the wind
changed ; signal guns from the ship had failed to
attract attention, and in the morning lie found that
ic Morgiana had sailed without him.

He had hurriedly to engage a pilot boat floating
in the stream, for £6, and follow the vessel to the
Brandy Pots, 38 leagues, where she would certainly
stop for wood.

We now quote largely from his journal.

Sunday, 2 I/A ^-/.fnnher 1815.

. . . Mrs. Charles Stewart, the daughter of the late Donald
M'Lean of York, with her warm friendly heart, insisted on
putting into the boat some porter, wine, and bread and cheese ;
the pilot had some warm clothes and provisions, and thus
without a mouthful of breakfast, and with a cold which made
it almost impossible for me to speak, I set out. The night
was not dark, but lia/y and very cold. The old man and I
steered by turns, as he required some sleep.

At length, after a run of about twelve hours, they
overtook a large ship anchored just at the entrance
of " The Traverse," some 66 miles from Quebec, and
hailing her, found her to be the Morgiana, but were
carried past her.

74 SIR JOHN BEVEKLEY ROBINSON CH.

They did not discover us until it was too late to throw out
a rope, and such was the irresistible force of the tide that we
shot past her in an instant. We all took to our oars, but it
was in vain ; we were borne away rapidly, and our only course
was to run across to the nearest shore till the tide slackened.
We came to anchor about a mile out; the swell tossed our
little boat about prodigiously, and the cold was so great that
we could sleep but little. Just before daylight we renewed our
efforts. The wind had increased, and blew violently, but by
the help of the tide, which was now with us, we got on board
at daylight. My cold was much increased by my exposure,
and I slept badly. In the afternoon we made the Brandy Pots,
and came to anchor.

The rest of his voyage was a prosperous one, and
with Captain Newton and his officers, all of whom
were most attentive, he passed a very pleasant time
of it.

The Morgiana is an uncommonly snug fine vessel of her
class. She was built at Bermuda in 1812, of cedar ; is a sloop-
of-war of eighteen guns. Her crew consists of a master and
commander, two lieutenants (George Robinson and William
Rid g way), one master (Mr. Ramsay), surgeon (Dr. Cosgrave), a
clerk, purser (Mr. Wallace), master's mate, three midshipmen,
carpenter, sailmaker, quartermasters, boatswain, gunner, 125
seamen, and 20 marines. Captain Scott formerly commanded
her. Captain Newton, until he joined this ship last year, had
the Nimrod, a sloop-of-war, off the coast of America. He
took many small craft, few of much value.

Off the Great Bank of Newfoundland the captain
determined to stop and fish for cod.

The following extract describes a good day's
fishing : —

Every ship^s company are provided with fishing lines by
Government, one line to each mess ; and it is curious to see the
anxiety of each person for the success of his mess. The captain

mu

i.

in COD-FISHING OFF THE BANKS 7 >

fished for our mess and caught five large cod and two halibuts,
which he gave awav. Lieutenant Robinson was the great
fisherman of the gunroom mess. He was very successful, and
caught eight or ten very fine codfish, besides an immense
halibut. The taking of this monster excited as much bustle
and noise of the whole ship's crew as the carrying away a mast.

We got out the jolly-boat, and with great difficulty took
r in. Cut up and \\eighed in pieces, she weighed °.4o pounds.

The codfish taken here were all uncommonly large and in
fine season. Some of the lines caught from twelve to twenty

1

:

The ship became a strange scene during the day. A range
of lines all along the windward side, and two or three large fish
constantly hauling up; the jolly-boat manned and rowing oft

take up those too large or insecurely hooked to be pulled
up the ship's side, and also to pick up such as drop from
the hook after they are raided out of the water; for from some
cause they generally remain floating on the surface, though
some sink.

The decks were all bustle, full of fish ; some fellows cleaning
the fish, others salting, others hoisting them up the rigging to
dry. The sailors make incisions on the back denoting the
number of the mess the fish belong to. What each man takes
is considered sacredly his, and the officers claim none; so that,
if they are unlucky in fishing, they buy or beg. Here, how-
ever, we had no need.

\Ye fished in about forty fathoms of water, and kept the
hook near the bottom, which made it no trifling job to haul
up a fish.

From the " Banks " in nine more days, with a
following gale the whole way, so that they were
never compelled to vary one point from their course,
they wrere in soundings in the English Channel,
having made on an average of this time nearly nine
knots an hour.

At 11 A.M. (October 16, 1815) we anchored at Spithead,
having had just twenty-two days'* run from Quebec to Ports-

76 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

mouth. Deduct two and a half days we were at anchor in the
river getting wood, and the day we fished at Newfoundland
Bank, we were only eighteen and a half days from Quebec to
Portsmouth — a thing almost unexampled.

The next morning, at 7 A.M., my father set off in
the " Waterloo " light coach from the Crown Inn at
Portsmouth for London.

The waiter scraped towards me, and I answered his signal
with 3s. He then begged leave to remind me of the chamber-
maid. I told him she was "provided for.1' "Boots, sir, if
you please ! " Now I had put my boots on as I took them
off; therefore, as there must be some end to imposition, I
observed that neither I nor my boots had been introduced
to him.

I found that, though the coachman expected a token
beyond his fare, and the waiter had gotten one, neither one
nor the other would presume to lay hands upon my trunk.
That was a separate concern, of which I was soon made sensible
by the amusing hint, " Remember the porter, sir ! " Thus I
was obliged to detail another shilling. This, however, only
had virtue sufficient to bring my trunk to the side of the
" Waterloo,"" when all that had anything to do with it before
were now perfectly functi officio, and a worthy fat creature
kindly put it on the boot, and most politely addressed me with
" Please remember the porter to the coach, your honour."

My generosity fell one-half, and I had the conscience to
offer him only 6d.

Certainly, however, when you have got through this cere-
mony, you travel like a gentleman. The style of everything is
respectable. Jonathan takes you the same distance, through
worse roads, for half the money, and if he does not tickle you
with " your honour," neither does he ask or look for shillings.

But then he drives you in his shirt-sleeves, and himself, his
horses, harness, and carriage are all types of independence, —
independence of comfort, appearance, and decorum.

Travelling by Petersfield, Godalming, and Kings-

in PORTSMOUTH TO LONDON 77

„.

:

n, he got, at the latter place, his first view of
Father Thames. It struck him, accustomed to the
great rivers and lakes in America, as small. " I do
aver that in this place, only twelve miles ahove Lon-
don, it barely rates with the Don — Jonathan would call
it a Creek ; " and then, passing by Richmond Park,
and across Wimbledon Common, through Wands-
worth, and over Westminster Uridge, lie drove up
the Strand by Charing Cross, where he had a
" moonlight glimpse of the equestrian statue of
Charles I., remarkable from being the first erected
in the United Kingdom/' and drew up at the (iolden
Cross Inn, where lie remained for the night.

I have given the above journey to London, as it
is interesting to compare the mode and expense of
travelling in 1815 with that of the present day.

The inside coach fare was Cl, 15s. from Ports-
outh to London, plus 9s. extra for one trunk
(" which was a little above the ordinary size "), i.e.
in all £2, 4s., in addition to tips, &c., and meals on
the way. The time occupied on the journey, in-
cluding stoppages, must have been about twelve
hours. The distance by road, owing to the wind-
ings, was no doubt some miles greater than the
present distance by rail (73J miles), over which one
now travels, first-class, by express, in two hours,
for 12s. 2d.

The next day, Mr. Andre, 120 New Bond Street,
supplied him with "a hat for £l, 16s., and 5s. Gd.
for a common oil-cover," and he and his two little
daughters surveyed the guineas my father had brought
from Canada with him with much astonishment.

" That is a veiy strange sight, sir, here ; I've seen
nothing like them this long time."

78 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

After a few days he settled down in lodgings at
30 Craven Street, Strand, where a friend, Lieutenant
Pearson, of the Navy, was living, and the period of
two years which he now spent in England and on
the Continent — for his original leave of absence was
extended — was both a useful and happy one.

For the next nine months he remained chiefly in
London, and at the end of that time went for a short
trip on the Continent.

His position as Solicitor-General of Upper Canada,
and the introductions he had taken with him, enabled
him to see more of English life and society than so
young a man, without any near relations in the
country, could well have expected.

The Solicit or- General (Sir Samuel Shepherd)
showed him much kindness ; and, through him, the
Attorney- General, and other legal men of standing,
he was able to see everything connected with the
English courts and their proceedings.

Throughout this time he read steadily for his
profession, and was constantly meeting old friends
in the Army and Navy, with whom he had been
thrown in Canada during the war, and also Cana-
dian acquaintances.

A letter from Sir Frederick Robinson to Mr.
Merry, then Deputy Secretary at War, led to the
great happiness of his life, i.e. his marriage ; and
with the Merry family and their relations he spent
much of his time.

CHAPTER IV

LIFE IN ENGLAND
OCTOBER 1815 TO AUGUST 181G

•ury Lane Theatre: Kenn, Pope— Covent Garden: Mis^ O'Neill—
kemhle — Sir Samuel Shepherd — Sir \\ . Garrow- Sir \Y. Grant —
Sir Samuel Romilly -Sir J. Man>tield — The Exchequer Court — Old
Book<eller -Mr. Ridout .- -Lord Mayor's Day — Lord Kllenborouifh —
Dinner at Lincoln's Inn — Covent Garden: Mi-s Ste\ en>, Matthews,
Liston — Court of Common Pleas: Copley, Sir V. Gibl>s- The Merry
Family — Chapel Royal, Whitehall — Illuminations for the Pence —
We>tmin-ter Hall : llrou heating witnesses — Huonaparte — Card-play-
ing \\ool\vicli : Colonel Pilkhiirton -Henry «J. Boulton -Oxford —
lllenheim--Kvenin<r parties — Letters from Sir Frederick Robinson —
IIi> views and Dr. St radian's as to removing the seat of Government
from ^'ork to Kingston Memorandum as to this — Advi-ed to remain
in Fiiirland -The Canada Cluh —Covent Garden Theatrical Fund
dinner— Sir II. Sheaffe — Mr. .Justice Grose — Lord Krskine— Ilou>e of
Lords -House of Commons- St. (ieorire — Lelievre— Sjiarriiiir : Crib,
lielcher — The llinir : Carter, Lancaster — Mrs. ( Jarratt— Marriaire of
I'rince<s Charlotte- Literary Fund dinner — The Old Bailey- Mr-.
Siddons — The Booths — Norwich — Campbell the poet — Harwich —
lp>\\ich — Miss Forth.

From my Fathers Journal.

October 19, 1815. — In the evening I took it into my head
to stroll to Drury Lane Theatre. The tragedy was " Othello."
and the great, the famous Mr. Kean, personated the swarthy
hero.

The audience clapped and applauded where his perform-
ance was most (nitre and unnatural. His figure, diminutive,
thin, and ungraceful, could be supposed to resemble the Moor
in nothing but its blackness.

In general he was boisterous, when he should have been
tender and subdued.

Pope in lago I thought better.

The after-piece, " The Deserter," was infinitely better done.

79

80 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Mrs. Bland in Jenny was excellent. Knight in Simkin was
nature itself, and Munden in Skirmish performed very well.

I went on Saturday evening to Covent Garden. Miss
O'Neill in Isabella is far beyond any actor in tragedy I have
seen. Liston is an excellent comic performer.

9.1st October.— Called at Sir Samuel Shepherd's 1 with a
letter to him from Miss Russell, and to Lady Shepherd from
Mrs. Lowen. Sir Samuel had that moment returned to town
from his annual excursion to the country. He was dressing,
and in his flannel jacket, but desired to see me without cere-
mony, and gave me a most hearty kind reception. He said he
promised himself the pleasure of seeing me at his own house
very often.

. . . John Kemble having returned to town, I felt great
anxiety to hear him, his name being familiar to me from my
infancy. I went with Towers Boulton to hear him in " Corio-
lanus." His figure and face and his action became the character
admirably, but his hollow voice and short breath are painfully
unpleasant.

Sometimes he utters a commonplace sentence, such as " How
are you ? " or " I hear you,"" with such a misplaced vehemence
of voice and extravagant action that it is quite ridiculous.

SQth October. — I called to-day about twelve on Sir Samuel
Shepherd to mention to him my intention to enter myself of
one of the law societies, and my view in doing so ; and also to
learn his opinion as to the probability of my obtaining leave
of absence. . . .

He was just going into the country, but, with the greatest
friendship and politeness, entered into the fullest consideration
of the subject with all the anxious interest of an old friend or
relation.

The result is that, by his advice, I will, at all events, enter
my name immediately, that my time may be at once going on,
and I shall have gained something, if I have at last to return
before I am admitted. I bought of the steward a book of the
rules, &c.

The Solicitor-General.

iv THE COURTS, WESTMINSTER 81

3rd November. — Called at the Solicitor-General's office. lie
and his sons are my referees, and the Attorney-General joins in
the approval. The Solicitor-Genera] and Mr. Kemble are my
bondsmen to the Society. All this was entirely unsolicited,
and Sir Samuel was pleased to say that it was no more than I
ras entitled to expect from Sir William Garrow } ami himself. . .

. . . Went with Charles Murray to hear the Master of the

11s, Sir William Grant, dispose of Chancery petitions. I
was much gratified and pleased that I had gone. He says
little on the matters brought before him, but decides promptly,
without, however, any appearance of haste, and with perfect
composure and good temper.

Sir Samuel Komilly is a very different man from the idea I
had conceived of him. Exceedingly plain, open, and candid in
his manner, with a most conciliatory voice, really the mosl -o
of any I have heard, a respectful and gentlemanlike manner,
though warm and interesting — his countenance peculiarly
engaging.

6th November. — At twelve went to Westminster to see the
Courts open — the first day of term. This was my first sight of
Westminster Hall or any of its Appendages, The Judges had
not yet arrived. We found the hall full of gentlemen and
ladies and men and women waiting in anxious expectation to
see the Judges and Chancellors pass to their respective Courts.
The young lawyers, with their wigs and gowns, parading
through the hall with a lady on each arm, made rather a
grotesque appearance.

Soon the Judges came, and followed each other into their
respective Courts. Sir James Mansfield, the present Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, is very aged, and his whole
frame seems to be fast giving way to infirmity. lie totters in
his step and moves feebly. Some years ago he was remarkable
for a stern firmness of manner.

Finding it impossible to crowd into the other Courts, we
went into the Exchequer, where I saw on the Bench Chief
Baron Thomson, Graham, Kichards, and Wood. The Court

* The Attorney-General.

82 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of Exchequer is better accommodated than the others. After
the Court was open, a man made a great noise, addressing
himself to the Court, and saying he had come for justice, and
talking in a most rude, indecent way. The Chief Justice told
him to be silent, but he paid not the least attention. The
officer was then told to remove him, and the order was repeated,
I daresay ten times. The officer seemed very irresolute.

The man did everything but strike the keeper, and con-
tinued to reflect upon the Court. He was at last got out, but
was not confined.

I scarcely could believe I was in an English court of justice
and in the presence of four Barons of the Exchequer.

From hence we repaired for a short time to the Chancery
Court, where the Lord Chancellor1 was sitting on a seat
elevated far above the Bar, and apparently, like his namesake
in Upper Canada, quite unconscious of what the Councillor, Mr.
Bell, was striving to enforce with all his Yorkshire eloquence.

8th November. — Went into two or three bookstalls. The
vanity and importance of one old man amused me much. In
a dark, dirty room in Chancery Lane, he stood surrounded by
old moth-eaten, dog-eared editions of Greek and Latin classics,
fathers, and authors of the Middle Ages.

" Sir," said he, putting up his spectacles, and looking
round his shop, " this I call bookselling, and I call myself a
bookseller. Sir, I don't call those men who sell modern pub-
lications booksellers : I call them haberdashers, pins and needle
men. They sell books, sir, as they sell tape. They require no
learning. If you asked them for a Puffendorf, or a Claudian,
or an Herodotus, they wouldn't know what you were talking
about/1

9th November. — Mr. Ridout had asked me to come to his
house on Lord Mayor's day to see the procession, so on our
return I took Pearson with me, and we went there about half-
past three.

His house is No. 4 Crescent, New Bridge Street, and is the
best place to see the procession from, as the Lord Mayor and

1 Sir John Scott, afterwards Earl of Eldon, born 1751, died 1838.

iv LINCOLN'S INN— COVENT GARDEN 83

all leave the water at Blackfriars Bridge, and getting into
their carriages pass tip Bridge Street to Guildhall From the
upstairs window we had a most: distinct view. The crowd wa^
immense: carriages without end. The procession itself
little worth seeing : the mob spoiled all. There was no order,1
no previous arrangement. Coal waggons, hackney coaches, \-c..
blocked up the street. There were several dragoons, wearing
helmets and cuirasses taken from the French at Waterloo, and
some complete suits of armour, one of brass and three of steel.

l:W/ Xoirmbcr. — I attended the Court of King's Bench, and
heard an argument between Mr. Park and Mr. Garrow. Lord
Ellenborough has a dry, original manner with him — something
sarcastic.

I dined at Lincoln's Inn Hall to-day with C. Murray for
the first time. There were about 100 dining. The dinner
i boiled leg of pork on a pewter dish, and a second course
of roast fowl; beer in white earthen pint mugs. The moment
thev swallow their dinner, they disperse. I was much amused
at some of the young men's want of patience. One of them
having vociferated, "Waiter, send us a mess," very often
without effect, verv pompously calls out, "Wraiter, send Mr.
('olden here. Do you hoar, send Mr. Colden here?" "Mr.
Coldeifs dead, sir!" This stopped the young gentleman for
some time.

In the evening went to Covent Garden to hear Miss Stevens
sing in the "Beggar's Opera," and Mr. Matthews, the cele-
brated comic performer, in " Love, Law, and Physic. " I was
much pleased with Miss Stevens and with Sinclair — I mean
his singing, for he is nothing remarkable as an actor.

Liston, as Lubin Log, the citizen from Tooley Street, is
the most perfect picture of ignorant vulgarity that can be
conceived.

Matthews'* comic song, "The Stage," makes one die almost
of laughing.

14;th November. — I went to the Common Pleas, and heard
some lengthy arguments from Serjeants Best, Vaughan, and

1 London had then no police force as at present.

84 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Copley.1 Sir V. Gibbs is a man of penetrating mind and
clear understanding.

The following entry gives his first meeting with
my mother: —

16^ November. — Walked up to Gower Street. Left my
card at Franklin's, and called at Mr. Merry's. Mrs. Merry
was very good and very kind, and there was an exceedingly
fine, pretty little girl — a Miss Walker — there; very pleasing
and engaging in her manner and appearance.

19th November (Sunday). — Henry Boulton, C. K. Murray,
and I went to church at Whitehall Chapel. We were stopped
by the sentry at the door on account of our coloured neck-
cloths, and went home and changed them. When in church,
we found no place open to receive us, and, after looking about
for some time, walked up to the sexton, who was standing
behind the pulpit, and told him we wanted a seat. He
whispered, "The seats are my living, gentlemen !" — a hint
which could not easily be mistaken. I gave him a shilling,
and we were shown into a pew. In this chapel are hung up
around the walls the trophies of modern victories, — French
flags and French eagles : the latter are gilt or, perhaps, gold,
about five inches in height, perched on black staves of about
six feet long. Several of the flags were much torn and
blown to pieces with powder, &c. They were the fruit of
our victorious arms at Saragossa, Madrid, Salamanca, Badajoz,
Vittoria, Gaudaloupe, Martinique, &c.2

Here, too, on the west side . . .

Here follows the description of the Colours taken
on the Canadian frontier in the war with America of
1812-14, already given in Chapter II. : —

%5th November. — According to arrangement with Mr. Samuel
Foster, I walked down to the Bolt-in-Tun, Fleet Street, and

1 Afterwards Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst.

2 All these were in 1835 removed to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. The
Eagles are of metal (probably gun-metal), gilt."

iv CHAPEL ROYAL— LAW COURTS 85

took the Sevenoaks coach to Southern!. I remained at Mr.
•r's until Monday, and was treated with the utmost
kindness by the whole family.

Mrs. Foster I looked at with astonishment. I could hardly
believe her the mother of twenty children, fourteen now living.
She looks young, rosy, and active. They had at home Samuel
(the Attorney), Captain Tom Foster of the Navy, Lieutenant
Ilenrv Foster of the Horse Artillery, and Kdward in the mer-
cantile line. Two young ladies, Caroline and Mary, and the
youngest chikl, Arabella, about eight.

Henry was wounded at Waterloo with a grape-shot in the
foot. I saw the shot: it remained nine days buried in his heel.

. . . Thev seem a most happy family.

Z~th November. — In the evening I walked out to see the
illuminations for the Peace, signed on November 20, LSI. "3.

. . . The olive branches, laurel lea-. were beauti-

fully represented by the different coloured lamps. The crowd
of spectators was very great. It was to me a novel and
striking sight.

5th December. — Went to-day to Westminster Hall.

In an action for trespass I was shocked to see the gross
prevarication of three successive iritneneB. It exceeded any
similar exhibition I have seen in Canada, where we have rascals
enough, and sad ones.

I attribute it, in great measure, to the manner in which
causes are tried and witne^es examined here. The style is to
browbeat and insult, and uniformly to question the witnesses'
wracity, without respect to his feelings.

Garrow's manner of examining a witness serves to confound
a rascal, and often, I fear, to perplex an honest man. I wonder
the abuse is tolerated by a grave Chief Justice on the Bench to
the extent it goes.

The first witness having delivered his evidence, Mr. Garrow
rose to cross-examine him.

" Well, sir, you say, when this disturbance began, you were
in the room in plaintiff's house, writing. I suppose you were
doing business for him. You're a lawyer, I take it, from your
eloquence ? "

86 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Witness. " Sir, I'm an Englishman, and every Englishman
is supposed to understand the law of his country. . . ." (A
loud laugh, rather against the Attorney-General.) He was
going on

Lord Ettenborough. " Ah ! stop there. YouVe said very
well. You'd better not spoil it by saying more."

Mr. Garrow. " Pray, sir, may I ask you what employment ? "

Witness. " Sir, I'm a tailor."

Mr. Garrow. " A tailor ! Ah ! So, then, when you told us
you were an Englishman, we are to take it with some allow-
ance. You mean you are as much of an Englishman as a
tailor can be supposed to be. We know what proportion that
is. ... My valuable tailor, do give us a yard or two of truth.
Don't give us so much cabbage," &c., and a deal of such un-
becoming trash.

One witness, describing his position at the time of the fray,
said, " He sat with his back facing the door."

My good landlady got to-day some of Buonaparte's hair,
which she showed me. It came enclosed in a letter to Mr.
Finlayson from the surgeon who accompanied Buonaparte to
St. Helena, by the Redpole, just arrived from thence. I am to
have some, though there is but little ; and considering the un-
doubted fact of its being really the great little man's, it is
quite a curiosity.

12th December. — Spent the evening in Somerset Place at
Mrs. Hesse's. There was a large party, from twenty to thirty
ladies, mostly old dames. A loo table was formed, of which
party I made one, and had the pleasure of losing about 15s.
The itch for gambling — making money at cards — which is very
observable at these parties, surprised me. Really they seem to
think amusement by no means the object, and are as sharp
as cats.

1.6th .December. — Went to Woolwich to pay a visit to
Colonel Pilkington,1 commanding the Engineers there, who
received me very cordially.

1 Colonel Pilkiugton, R.E., who had served in Canada during- the war
of 1812-15.

iv CARD PARTIES— OXFORD S7

The evening w:is pas^-d very pie :is?mtly, and the Colonel
and I sit up till one, talking of Canadian people and Canadian
concerns lie was in Canada in 179-'}, and really looks wonder-
11 v voting for a man who talks of Niagara and York before
they knew what a house was.

Henry John Boulton, then at Oxford, who was
to drive a friend's tandem back to Oxford from
London, took him with him, and they set off at

1) A.M.

ISM Ih-cemhcr. — Oxford is a delightful place taken alto-
gether. The High Street affords several interesting views of
Colleges venerable from age and captivating from the associa-
tion of ideas. Everything you ves additional interest

from the impression constantly on your mind that you are now
in that quiet seat of learning and surrounded by those walls
which for centuries have sent forth men most eminent in every
important walk of life. . . .

\Ve drove in a gig to Woodstock ; I was delighted with
Blenheim. As we could not be admitted to the house till
i hrt v, we walked over the park till that hour came. It is eleven
miles round. The lake abounds with waterfowl, and the park
is alive with deer. We suddenly encountered the old Duke
himself (now seventy-seven years old), whom this fine day had
tempted to try the sports of the field. He was in a little
carriage, like a child's coach, drawn by a donkey, and was
attended by a number of servants. AVhen the dogs pointed,
the gun was put into his hand, and he pointed it, but the game
always got out of reach before he made up his mind to fire.
The gamekeeper was very civil, and unlocked a gate for us.

From Oxford he returned by coach to London,
passing through Slough —

Where the first person I met was Donald Macdonell. He
had just got out of the Bath coach, and was on his way from
Hungerford to Windsor. What, I wonder, are the chances
that in a kingdom of about twelve million population, with
crowds of coaches constantly traversing the same road, two

88 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

individuals who had gone to school together about 4000 miles
off should meet at a little village where they were neither to
stop more than a few minutes.

He has a commission in the 99th Regiment. On my return,
found a most friendly letter from General Sheaffe, and a kind
note from Colonel Pilkington asking me to spend Christmas
with them.

Christmas Day. — Went to Church at the Foundling, and
afterwards to Woolwich (to Colonel Pilkington).

9,8th December. — Dined with Hullock, and found a large
party. One of them asked me if we drove reindeer in our
sledges in Canada !

5th January 1816. — Dined at the Merry s\ and accompanied
them to Mrs. Hincks"*, a relation of the Robinsons,1 who
received me very cordially. There was a large party. I first
saw here a specimen of the present English fashionable parties.

The gentlemen drop in, ad libitum., with their hat in their
hand, or under their arm, as if they should say, " I am all ready
to go off if I don't like you," and their behaviour speaks this
exactly. They saunter, snuff, and stare about as if they were
all strangers to one another, look at the ladies' dresses, and
when they have satisfied their curiosity, make a bow and go out
again. The tone seems to be a striking and laboured affectation
of indifference to everything. We came home about twelve.

Sir Frederick Robinson had now arrived in
England from Canada, having been brought over
in connection with the court-martial ordered upon
Sir George Prevost, which in the end, owing to the
latter's death, never took place.

We give below two letters he wrote after his
arrival in England to my father : —

THORNBURY, NEAR BRISTOL,

±th January 1816.

DEAR ROBINSON, — . . . I am most exceedingly happy to have
found you out, and hope to have the pleasure of introducing

1 Sir Frederick Robinson's family.

::

iv SIR F. ROBINSON 89

ou to some more Robinsons ere we quit this country. Mv
mother and sisters arc- anxious to see you. The former, though
in her eighty-ninth year, is in high health and spirits, and the
latter are now pretty well. It gives me much pleasure to find
you deri\ tion from my friend Merry's attention. . . .

. . . Do not mention my address to any one, as I am living
this retired place to be out of the way of every one and
everything relating to the court-martial until the time of trial.
— Believe me, very truly yours,

F. P.

J. B. ROHINSOV, Ks. i.,;}() Craven Street. Strand.

TiioKxiu-iiY, Ill/A Jmiiiimi

MY DKAH Roiiixsox, — Your father was as intimate in my
ither's house as I was, and my mother ami sish-rs not only

)llect him with pleasure, but would he mo>t happy to renew
the acquaintance, and cement the relationship in the son, but it
will not fall to my lot to introduce you to them, as I have
obtained permission to return to Fpper Canada as soon as I
please, in consequence of the death of Sir George Prevost. I
shall avail myself of it, and go by the very first opportunity
that offers, whenever that may be.

I think the Governor has done a wise thing in introducing
Strachan into the Executive Council. I consider him both
zealous, and capable of all that may be required of him. My
idea is that, if it is the intention of Ministers to preserve Upper
Canada, they must make a military post of York, and, in that

. the seat of Government need not be removed. The fact
is. more money has been thrown away upon useless fortifications
than would have served to have made the place impregnable
had the works been properly situated. As it is, they might as
well be at Albany. — Faithfully yours,

F. P. Romxsox.

Sir Frederick's mother (Susannah Philipse), born
in 1727, married Colonel Beverley Robinson, 1747.
and died at Thornbury, near Bath, in 1822, in her
ninety-sixth year.

90 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

It seems to bring the colonial days of Virginia
closer to our own times that, while she might well
have been acquainted with some who had known
Christopher Robinson, who died in 1693 and was the
first of the family to emigrate to Virginia, the widow
of her grandson,1 who was sixteen years old at
Susannah Robinson's death, is still (1903) living at
Frenchay, not far from Thornbury, in her ninety-
seventh year.

One can hardly realise that it is possible that one
now living could have known another who was fifty-
seven years old when (in 1784) the United Empire
Loyalists settled in Upper Canada.

The question of the removal of the seat of
Government of Upper Canada from York (Toronto)
to Kingston, alluded to above in Sir Frederick's last
letter, was about this time exciting much interest in
Canada. Dr. Strachan, who was now a member of
the Executive Council, wrote strongly to my father,
begging him to do what he could to prevent the step
being carried out, and the latter subsequently em-
bodied his own views and those of Dr. Strachan in a
memorandum addressed to Lord Bathurst, Secretary
of State for the Colonies, from which we give the
following extracts : —

~\ 5th February 1816.

... It is urged that York is, in its situation, incapable
of defence, while Kingston is naturally strong, and has been
besides well fortified, and, being our principal naval and

1 Colonel \V. H. Robinson, 72nd Highlanders. Several of this family
attained a great age. Mrs. Beverley Robinson's sister Mary (Mrs. Roger
Morris) died in her ninety-sixth year ; Sir Frederick Robinson in his
eighty-ninth ; and his daughter, Maria (Mrs. Hamilton Hamilton,, whom
I knew well), in her ninetieth (in 1884). She remembered her grand-
mother, Mrs. Beverley Robinson, perfectly.

iv SEAT OF GOVERNMENT 91

i.

military post, will be best protected of any place in Canada
during a \vur.

liven looking closely at this ground there is, I submit, my
nl, room for much doubt. While we retain the superiority
on Lake Ontario, no town in Canada is so perfectly seci:r
York, because no hostile army can reach it by land without
t forcing our frontier at Kingston, Niagara, or Sandwich,
d marching in either case through a great extent of populous
untry; and hence York, in any event during a great part of
year, while the navigation is obstructed by the ice, is
removed from all danger. In neither case has it anything
to Apprehend, but from a regular, OfgAlliaed army.

Kingston, on the other hand, enjoys no such security, but
s liable to the invasion of an overwhelming force.

The possession by us of Lake Ontario, which secures York,
forms no obstacle to such an invasion, because the Americans
could cross in boats over the river St. Lawrence, and the
\\ inter, which puts the former out of their reach, gives them
an easier entrance into the latter.

Besides, York, in the opinion of many military men, is very
capable of defence, and its weakness is said to be owing to the
injudicious position of the works constructed, not to its natural
incapacity of being defended.

Moreover as, if we are superior on the Lake, York is
entirely secure, so if we are worsted there, York must be
kept, because all supplies for the Niagara frontier, and the
country north and west of it, must pass through it. So it
must stand or fall with the province or, at least, with far
the more valuable and extensive part of it.

If it be determined that York is neither sufficiently secure,
nor to be made so, and that the seat of Government must on
that account be changed, ought it not to be removed to some
place where, while it preserved the advantage of a central
situation, it would be out of the line of all military o;
tions,1 and unquestionably secure while the province was ours
— for example, on the shore of Lake S.mcoe, or on some point

1 The Dominion seat of Government has since been moved to such a
position — viz., Ottawa.

92 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of the backwater communication, where no army could reach
it that had not overcome all the obstacles the frontier would
present, and where no army would think of going until every
military object was achieved.

I beg to assure your Lordship that nothing but a strong
impression, erroneous though it may be, that on grounds of
public expediency the measure is imprudent, would have
tempted me to intrude upon your Lordship's time and
attention.

About this time Dr. Strachan evidently began
to lean to the idea that it might be to my father's
advantage and interest to remain in England, and
push his career there.

On the 29th February 1816 he wrote to him from
Canada as follows : —

... I am pleased to find that your reception is so good
from the Crown lawyers. It does them honour. Unless you
have set your heart upon spending your days in this country,
I rather think that prospects might be made to open upon
you in London by the time you can profit by them, but I must
leave you to yourself in this matter. — Your best friend,

JOHN STRACHAN.

And on the 7th May 1816 he addressed him the
following interesting letter : —

... If you see your way clearly, you must try your fortune
at the English Bar. You must remember that I mentioned
the probability of your becoming attached to England. From
your knowledge of men and manners, and the part you have
been forced to perform, and likewise your education, your
acquirements are greater and more practically useful than
those of some of the most eminent barristers. They have
made greater progress in the study of mere law; but that
knowledge has not been enlivened by its application to actual
characters.

IV

ENGLISH BAR SUGGESTED '.»:*

If you attach those friends to you whom you have made,
of which I h;ive very little douht, it will be easy for them to
ring you out, and the publication of the State trials :
th the Solicitor-General*! rrrixion of them, if he will take
e trouble, mav prove of much advantage to you.

This is a point on which you must deliberate with care, as
is the most important of your life. If you resolve to remain,
u must a! tend to economy anil avoid all encumbrances. If
it be objected that your chance is precarious, I answer, "Not
so much .s.) as the chance of anv Englishman of your
''You have been better introduced already than a Peer's son
could expect. You have talents: you have industry. The
first few briefs obtained, vour fortune is made. As to your
being happier here, I question it. \Ye have all the caballings

and heart-burningi of the largest Government!, and from our

limited society, they poison social intercourse. Not so at home.
Your circle is large, and it is easv to avoid those whom you do
not wish to meet. You say, -Had Providence ca>t vour lot
in England;"1 I say, your chance in that case would not have
been half so good. The great difficulty of young men, natives
of England, of the first talents, is to get acquainted. This
difficulty you have surmounted.

A tempting offer will be made you, or it will be attempted
— vi/., to place Mr. Boulton on the Bench and make you
Attorney-General. Should this be effected, prudence will bid
you accept, ambition will hesitate.

Of your attachment to your friends and relations here, I
entertain the most favourable opinion ; but we must separate
in our progress through life, and we must separate at the last.

I shall be pleased with what you decide; but I wish you to
adopt the old plan. Set down the pros and cons on paper,
and be governed neither by prejudice nor feeling, but by the
strongest rational probabilities.

(iod bless your exertions, and whatever may befall you, so
long as you preserve your integrity, you will always find the
same sincere friend in JOHX STU.U-IIA\.

When, a few months later, Dr. Strachan became

<)4 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

aware of my father's approaching marriage, he wrote
to him as follows, and no doubt in his heart rather
regretted his decision not to remain in England :—

YORK, 30th September 1816.

... I can now solve the great change of sentiment which
appeared in your letter, your eloquent description of the diffi-
culties you would have had to surmount in coming to the Bar
in England, with the great sacrifices you must make, &c., like-
wise your warm eulogium on the happiness you might enjoy in
this country.

You will see by my last that I was not convinced, but I
relinquished the argument.

To return to my father's Journal : —

X*

'12th January 1816. — Accompanied Mr. Acheson to-day to
the Canada Club at the Freemasons1 Tavern, and had a seat on
the President's right — Mr. Auldjo. There were about thirty
present — Vice-President Mr. John Forsyth, Mr. Robert Dick-
son, Mr. Ellis, Mr. Henderson, Mr. Logan, Dr. M'Kinnon, Mr.
Oviatt, Mr. Maitland, Mr. John Blackwood, Uniacke's brother-
in-law from Halifax, Mr. Angus Shaw, and several others
whom I did not know. Canadian affairs were much the subject
of conversation, and Canadian boat songs and Indian speeches
from Shaw and Dickson formed an agreeable part of the
entertainment./

Dickson and I were conversing on the subject of the defence
of Mackinac last war, when he asked me if I knew Captain
Robinson who was up there when the Americans blockaded it,
and when I told him he was my brother, he entertained me
with the most unreserved encomiums of him.1

1 The brother alluded to was Captain Peter Robinson, who has before
been mentioned as having- commanded a volunteer rifle company at the
capture of Detroit in 1812. At Michilimackinac (or Cf Mackinac," as it
\vas often called), an important post on the Straits between Lakes Huron
and Michigan, which the Americans, who had lost it in 1812, made
srvrrul vain efforts to retake in 1814, he appears to have been active in
encouraging the defence. He made his way out of Mackiuac, through
the American blockading fleet, in August 1814. All efforts to reduce the
post failed.

iv THEATRICAL FUND DINNER itf

30th Jtiniiary.—To-d&y, by virtue of my guinea ticket, I
dined at the great Coven t Garden Theatrical Fund dinner at
the Freemasons' Tavern, Great (^ueen Street. Its object wa*
to form a provision for the support of decayed actors, their
willows, and children.

The first actors of Covent Garden Theatre acted as stewards,
anil having dined early in the day, occupied themselves in
walking up and down with their rods, attending to the party,
looking after the waiters, and keeping everything in order.
They were Young, Liston, Charles Kenihle, Matthews. Fawcett.
Farley, Con way, Taylor, Abbot, Pope, Emery, and several
others. Matthews and Finery sang their inimitable comic
songs.

The Duke of York presided. At one end of the same table
the Duke of Kent, at the other the Duke of Sussex. On the
jsidents left was the Lord Mayor, Lord Yarmouth, Lord C.
jymour, and some distinguished Members of Parliament. On
his right, Lord Alvanley, MacMahon, private secretary to the
Prince Regent, Lord Frskine, a son of PercivaPs, Fitzroy Stan-
hope, and several others whose names I did not hear. Mr.
Brammel, the famous blood, who said on one occasion, " Damme,
Til cut the Prince, and bring old George into fashion again,"
wa- also there — a finicking-looking buck enough.

It was a singular gratification to me to see Lord Erskine.

I was much pleased with the personal appearance of the
three dukes. In fact they were, beyond all question, the three
men of most noble appearance at the table.

The Duke of Sussex has a countenance and manner very
prepossessing, full of benignity, and cheerful and lively good
humour. The Duke of Kent looks and speaks like a soldier ;
the Duke of York is a fine commanding person, and has more
regular symmetry of features than his brothers, but no parti-
cular expression that pleases or strikes.

The Duke of York made a short speech in a very hesitating
and confused manner.

The Duke of Kent's address was well conceived and dexter-
ously managed, and had really a great effect. I was the more
pleased because I had always heard the Duke of Sussex spoken

96 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of as the orator, and that the Duke of Kent was not at all his
equal. The Duke of Sussex soon followed. He has a prepos-
sessing face, but his voice is weak. He began very quaintly,
but failed, in my mind, very much. His language was very
perplexed and involved. He was much applauded, because
he said some things well, and a good heart showed itself
throughout.

These three of the Royal Family are popular, and it
cannot be otherwise, when they join so perfectly heart and
hand with their fellow-subjects in every humane, benevolent, or
useful institution.

The total amount collected at this dinner was a little over
^650.

S\st January. — Called at Sir Roger Sheaffe's, where I found
Norton. We had a long talk about Canadian matters. We
talked over the unfortunate business at York, which he seems
to like to dwell upon.

Derenzy came in ; and thus, in Craven Street, London, were
four persons l met together who had all been in the Battle of
Queenston, and who little thought at that time of seeing one
another here.

Dined at the Merrys1 with Mr. Robert Lukin and James
Lukin, Colonel Drinkwater, who wrote the " Siege of Gibraltar,"
and several others.

9th February. — Went to Hyde Park and put on a pair of
skates. You give 8s. in pledge till you return the skates, and
Is. per hour for the use of them.

Wth February. — Last night it froze more severely, people
say here, than has been known for many years. A decanter of
water and a tumbler of water were frozen solid in my bedroom.

. . . Not a bad joke of Mr. Justice Grose, who on circuit
was dozing rather whilst the list of the jury was calling over,
and John Thomson being called and not answering, the clerk

1 Derenzy was a captain in the 41st ; Captain Norton commanded the
Indians, and Sir Roger Sheaffe was in command of the whole British force
at the Battle of Queenston. The latter also commanded when York
(Toronto) was taken in 1813.

an
Ti

til

HOUSE OF LORDS 97

peated the name. Some one answered, " He's dead, sir."
e judge, starting up, says, " There's no end to these excuses ;
fine him 40s."

Lord Erskine has a small estate near London, and has for
me time past been employing several hands in making and
disposing of brooms from this estate. Last week he was
ually summoned before a bench of magistrates, and fined
. for selling brooms without taking out a hawker's and
lurs licence. He observed to their Lordships that, if the
w affected him, it certainly must be "a sweeping clause in
e statute."

There are ridiculous caricatures of the late Chancellor
selling his brooms stuck up in the print-shops.

19th February. — By an introduction of Mr. Finlayson, I
got admission without a Peer's ticket into the House of Lords,
although it was a night of very interesting debate upon the
treaties and our connections with our Allies; in fact, upon
r present political situation. I went at six, and remained
till nearly one o'clock.

Lord Liverpool opened the debate with a long, though
clear, able, and well-arranged speech.

His manner is pleasing, his voice harmonious, and action
energetic.

Lord Grenville (in opposition) followed him in a speech
of much the same length.

I think his manner carries more weight than Lord Liver-
poors. It is more grave, manly, and dignified: less appearance
of art, and more smooth and uninterrupted. He speaks more
like one in earnest.

They were the first specimens of speeches, anything in
fact like orations, that I have heard. They were such as to
excite admiration of the talents, knowledge, and eloquence of
the speakers.

Lord Holland (nephew of C. J. Fox) supported Lord
Grenville in a most curious speech of two hours. His action
was violent in the extreme. He screamed, he holloaed, he
choked with impetuosity and vehemence, and yet was not in
fact angry. In short, his speech was an unaccountable medley,

G

98 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

and though he said many good things, they answered no
purpose, as neither he nor the House could see precisely to
what it all tended.

Lord Harrowby supported Lord Liverpool in a very clear,
able, and impressive speech.

6th March. — At three I went to the House of Commons.
The debates were interesting: on the subjects of the Property
Tax and the Army Estimates.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer makes a poor figure.
Lord Castlereagh maintains his ground exceedingly well,
always cool, and never to be irritated by the most vexatious
attacks. He answers all objections with calmness and temper,
and with much humour and point.

I heard also Rose, Brougham, Lord Milton, Goulbourn,
Wynne, Fitzgerald, Chancellor of the Exchequer for Ireland ;
and George Tierney, an original fellow.

\.4>th April (Sunday). — By pressing invitation from Mr.
Adams (W. Dacres), spent the day with him at his house
at Sydenham. I took a horse, and after service rode to
Sydenham. Mr. Adams has a beautiful estate of 150 acres
under good cultivation, and the grounds about his house are
laid out with great taste.

April. — After breakfast, I left Mr. Adams, and re-
turned to town. Henry Boulton and I dined at a restaurateur's
with St. George, his brother, and Lelievre,1 and at nine young
Acheson called for us to take us to the Lord Mayor's
Easter ball.

The crowd was insufferable — about 4000 people. The
ladies were very seriously alarmed for their safety on account
of the pressure of what may be fairly called the mob. The
Dukes of Kent and Sussex and the Recorder in vain harangued
the gentlemen to beg them to keep back. With the greatest
difficulty room was kept for the Duke of Sussex and a lady to
dance a minuet.

1 Probably the Quetton St. George and Captain Lelievre whose names
appear as subscribers to the York Assemblies in 1814— See Appendix
A., III. Lelievre was a captain in the Royal Newfoundland Fencibles.

L

m

MANSION-HOUSE HALL 99

The whole Mansion-I louse was swarming with grotesque
itv bucks and belles. There was one negro gentleman, several
mulattos, anil a Turk or Persian. The Eadv Mayoress cut a
queer figure with her hoops. y No refreshment of any kimi
provided. Almost choked with heat and thirst, Henry and I
found our way down into the kite-hen, where we found a civil
gentleman all over gold lace, who was willing to give us a
of water for a trifle.

We left the jamming and squeezing at half-past twelve.

April — I went with William Merry to the Fives Court
in St. Martin's Lane to see sparring by the crack hands
of the day. Crib, the champion of England ; .Richmond,
the black; Belcher, Oliver, Eels, Scroggins, West Country
Dick, *e.

It was to me a novel scene, purelv English, and well worth
witnessing. The neatness and quickness of Belcher are quite
astonishing. Notwithstanding their gloves, the blows coming
with such force sometimes stagger them, and, indeed, thev often
knock each other down; but no serious injury is done.

The spectators are a strange group of coachmen, butchers,
innkeepers, and gentlemen, who all take a surprising interest
in what is going forward, and aflect to talk in the genuine
slang style.

°, Wi April. — There was a regular boxing match on Molesey
Heath, near Hampton Court, on the opposite side of the
Thames, and I thought it a duty incumbent on me, as a
stranger, to witness this exhibition, so purely English, which
displays national manners and peculiarity of feeling in so
striking a manner.

So Henry and I took a gig of Ansel, the livery stable keeper.
We drove through Putney, Richmond', Twickenham, and
Bushey Park. Imagination cannot picture a more delightful
drive. The leaves and blossoms were just beginning to expand,
and everything breathed of spring.

We passed crowds of citizens on foot, in carts, on horseback,
in gigs, coaches, &c., all streaming to the grand ;rw/r;;z'o//.s.
We stopped at Mr. Twining's (at Hampton), an acquaintance

100 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of Henry's and old friend of his father's. We promised to
return to dine with him ; crossed the Thames on a crowded
wherry, and had to wait about an hour or more before the
fight began.

It was on a level green. Carts and waggons formed a circle
of about 150 yards diameter perhaps, in the centre of which
was the ring. Two shillings was given for a standing place on
a waggon, which afforded one an excellent view. The mob
were all driven back so as to form a ring immediately inside
the circle of carriages, and we looked over their heads. Numbers
of men with horsewhips kept the multitude in order by frequent
and very unceremonious cuts over the face, back, and legs,
which were all suffered patiently and without a murmur or
symptom of resistance. Many thousands attended, and yet by
this violent and rough method of keeping order, all confusion
was prevented, and every one had a good view — but Jonathan
wouldn't brook this.

The great fight which drew the public together was between
Carter, a celebrated boxer, and a black, lately from Virginia,
who had beaten several white men of bruising fame, and
boasted himself a match for any white in England. He was
a very stout, powerful fellow, but Carter beat him with very
little trouble. He took several severe rounds first, however.

A much tighter combat next took place between Lancaster,
a known pugilist, and a coal-heaver. They were both men of
great courage and obstinacy, but the former was at length
beaten.

Another fight succeeded, not so well contested, and then
the matter ended, and the cockneys, carts, gigs, coaches, &c.,
returned to town.

We walked to Hampton Palace and viewed the gardens and
grounds, which are beautiful, though too flat.

After dinner Mr. Twining took me over Garrick's grounds,
which are really exquisitely pretty. The Thames here is a very
beautiful river. The grounds are diversified by artificial hill
and dale, and planted with fine trees. They are now large
trees, like forest trees, and yet Mrs. Garrick says she remembers
the planting of every one of them except one. She is ninety-

iv LITERARY FUND DINNER 101

two, still active and lively, and frequently attends Drury Lane
Theatre, being much delighted with Ki-uifs acting.1

We returned to town by nine, and had a very pic
drive.

9,nd May. — This evening at ten the Princess Charlotte of
Wales was married to the Prince of Saxe-Coburg. About two,
or perhaps earlier in the day, Pall Mull and the Park were
crowded with men and women hoping to catch a glimpse of one
or both of the Royal parties. When I returned home at about
eleven, there was still an immense crowd in Pall Mall before
Carl ton House. A party of Life Guards were on duty. I was
.standing near a fine young man, mounted on his charger, with
his beaver and Waterloo medal, when a bit of brick thrown
with great violence from the crowd struck the side of his head,
on the chains that pass along the cheek. He showed no
symptom of resentment, nor even changed his position, though
the blow might have ruined his eyesight. Their situation on
these occasions is most mortifying to brave men.

\Qth May. — Dined at the anniversary dinner of the Lite-
rary Fund for the support of poor authors at the Freemasons'"
Tavern. About 200 present. The Duke of Kent was
President.

The Bishop of Cloyne, who is a very queer, squinting old
gentleman, made a short speech, in which the most striking
remark was that the object of the society was " to help those
men of ability who had not the ability to help themselves " —
sufficiently quaint.

The most original amusement of the evening was the recita-
tion by William Thomas Fitzgerald of his twentieth Annual
Ode. This is the poet whose style is parodied in the " Rejected
Addresses." The ode had some merit, and was received in a
very flattering manner. I had some conversation with him
before dinner.

1 Mrs. Garrick, widow of Garrick, the celebrated actor, died iu 1822,
aged ninety-eight.

102 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Within the next few days my father visited
Windsor and Eton, where he " saw a great number
of fine little fellows busily occupied with cricket."

May.— Went to the Old Bailey, and, by the Solicitor-
Generars introduction, got a place next Mr. Shelton, the Clerk
of Arraigns. The judges, Bailey and Park, were there. Soon
after I received a note from Sir James Shaw, on the Bench,
requesting my company to dinner at five with the judges and
magistrates. We had an excellent dinner in the Sessions
House. The party was exceedingly pleasant and convivial, and
without restraint or reserve.

Mr. J. Park mentioned an Irish bishop who married at
sixty, and lived to see his eldest son a bishop.

May. — This evening the celebrated Mrs. Siddons, who
for forty years has reigned undisputed Queen of Tragedy, acted
Queen Catherine in " Henry VIII." for the benefit of her brother,
Charles Kemble. I had often regretted it as a loss I was
doomed to that I should never hear Mrs. Siddons, who several
years ago took a formal leave of the stage.

Mr. W. Dacres Adams was so kind as to consider me in his
arrangements for the evening.

I went with Adams, Colonel Adams his brother, three or
four ladies, and Campbell, author of " The Pleasures of Hope "
and " Gertrude of Wyoming," — a particular friend of the
Adams's. I was introduced to him, and we had a great deal
of conversation during the evening.

There is something uneasy and fidgetty in his manner that
you would not expect in the author of " Erin-go-Bragh." He
has a fine eye, and his conversation is entertaining. He appears
young yet, about thirty-five perhaps.

In the box next us was Lord Lynedoch, also Mr. Matthews,
author of " Pursuits of Literature," and in another Rogers, the
author of " Pleasures of Memory." The house was crowded in
every part.

I was pleased with Mrs. Siddons, but found more to admire
in Kemble's Wolsey ; some passages were almost overpowering.

MRS. SIDDOXS 103

The audience would not for a long time suffer the tragedy
to proceed beyond the end of the fourth act, as if, after Mrs.
Siddous in that last affecting scene, nothing would be tolerated.

The other piece was "The Prize," in which Liston and
Matthews were sufficiently ridiculous.

On June 10th, Colonel Pilkington kindly sent up
his servant and horses to London for him, and he
rode down to Woolwich again and spent a day or
two there.

On my way over Blackheath, I passed the Blackheath
pedestrian Katon walking one of his hourly miles — part of his
1100 to be performed in 1100 hours — one mile each hour.
Monstrous absurdity !

Between this and the end of July, he visited
Norwich to see my mother's relations there, the
Booths ; and also paid two or three visits to Hastings,
where my mother, with the Merrys, was then stay-
ing, visiting Bexhill, Pevensey, &c.; and on the 1st
August returned to town preparatory to setting out
upon a six weeks' tour on the Continent.

2/w/ August. — By invitation of Mr. Campbell, I dined with
him at his house at Sydenham, with Mr. Adams and Mr.
Crauford. Mrs. Campbell is a fine-looking woman. They
have one son, Thomas, apparently a smart ingenious lad ; they
lost another child. Mr. Campbell was born in 1778; his
father lived to a great age, upwards of ninety. We spent a very
pleasant evening. I slept at Adams's and breakfasted there.

On August 8, 1816, he set off by coach from
London for Harwich.

The harbour of Harwich, formed by the mainland on which
the town lies, and the peninsula on which Landguard Fort

104 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

stands, very much resembles the Bay of York 1 in Upper Canada,
the fort and a round tower being placed so as exactly to remind
me of the blockhouses on Gibraltar Point. After dining I took
a packet to Ipswich and went to the " White Hart " Inn.

6th August. — Took a stroll through Ipswich.

I recollected having brought over with me a letter from
Miss Russell to a Miss Forth of Ipswich, so, all in my travelling
habit as I was, I knocked at Miss Forth's door in the church-
yard of St. Mary's Tower. We had a long chat about Canada
and Mr. and Mrs. Russell. Mr. Russell's father was clerk of
the Cheque in Harwich, and died there.

T,ue v_/neque n narwicn, anu. uieu uiere.

In the evening he returned, by post chaise,
Harwich.

to

Now Toronto.

CHAPTER V

TRAVELS ON THE CONTINENT, TO THE ENGLISH LAK1

AND IN SCOTLAND, ETC.

1816-17.

Helvietsluys — Rotterdam — The Hague — Canal travelling — Leyden — Haar-
lem— Amsterdam — Broek (the model village) — Utrecht — Antwerp —
Brussels— Waterloo— Paris— Louis XVIII.— The Mat de Cor:,
Count <le Chains— Talma— Chamber of I )eputies — St. Germain— View
from t)u> terrace --French politeness — A London mob — Mr. Adams -
The Reverend George Boulton — Coventry — Kenilworth, &c. — Open-
ing of Parliament Matlock Yorkshire scenery — Windennero and
the English Lakes — Falls of the Clyde — Glasgow— Captain Jarvie —
Aberdeen — Mr. Strarlian -Mr. Forsyth — Jeffrey — Captain Barclay
—Mr. (Sir Walter) Scott and Abbotsford— Kelso— Alnwick.

>N August 7, 1816, my father embarked at Harwich
for Helvietsluys, and travelled thence through Hol-
land, partly by canal, to Antwerp, Brussels, and Paris,
returning to London on 15th September.

In April and May 1817 he visited the English
Lakes and Scotland ; in June was married in Lon-
don ; and in August 1817 he and my mother sailed
for Canada.

In the early part of last century but few travelled
abroad, either from England or Canada, compared
with the numbers who now yearly do so ; and the
period of his travels was rather an exceptional one.
Louis XVIII. had been recently restored (after
Waterloo) to the French throne ; and the spoils of
Napoleon's wars were just being returned from Paris
to their former owners in Holland and elsewhere.
Everything he saw extremely interested him. British
troops still occupied parts of France ; at Valenciennes
he met with Major Holcroft, who had been with him

105

106 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

in the campaign of 1812 in Canada, and other old
friends were with the army of occupation.

While, therefore, I have omitted much from his
Journal which is merely descriptive of cities, towns,
churches, and picture galleries, now well known,
lying as they do in the beaten track of everyday
travel, I give below what I think may still be of
interest.

He was charmed with the scenery of the English
Lakes, and delighted with his trip to Scotland, during
which he paid a visit to Sir Walter (then Mr.) Scott
at Abbotsford.

I may add, too, that 1 have curtailed these ex-
tracts the less because travelling, especially at the
age my father then was, is a part of education,
opening the mind and enlarging the ideas.

Nothing can convey so well as these extracts
themselves what he saw and how it struck him, or
indicate better his observing powers.

I now continue from his Journal : —

1th August 1816. — An English gentleman,1 6 feet high,
with brown surtout, drab breeches, and long gaiters, set off
with me from Helvietsluys.

" I see, sir, from your trunk," he said, " that you are from
the other side of the Atlantic. Do you happen to know a
gentleman there, who is the most particular friend I have in
the world — Uniacke ? "

" Perfectly well ; we travelled once together from Quebec
to York."

This introduced us to each other, and as a travelling com-
panion he is very agreeable and very well informed.

9th August. — At half-past twelve we embarked (from Rot-
terdam) for Delft on our way to the Hague, on board a

1 Mr. Latham, who travelled with him afterwards as far as Brussels.

,.,

HOLLAND— THE HAGUE 107

kshuvt or canal boat. These are the most convenient
things, and the whole system is admirable.

For instance, from one city to another, these trekshuyts

il most punctually at their stated times, every half-hour, or
e\ery two hours, £c. Each city has its different gates tor the
different departures, as the Untrue Gate, the Amsterdam Gate,
the Utrecht Gate. At the inn a porter attends, whose charge

known ; he takes your linkage to the gate you set out from.

d you follow him. AVithout any bustle or confusion your

ggage is put on board, and at the stated minute you

t off.
The trekshtivt is a long narrow boat. The after cabin is

ceedingly comfortable. It holds about eight passeng«
hied and furnished with a velvet cushion for each passenger,
and a little table in the midst, on which you may write. There
are small windows which open, and give you the advantage of
air and prospect. The other larger cabin is very clean, but
provided only with long benches. It holds about fortv pas-
•:-s, who pay one half the price of the others. The top of
the boat, that is, the roof of the cabin, is neat and clean, con-
sisting of broken shells, cemented with pitch. In fine weather
this is the most pleasant berth. One miserable horse, harne.s>ed
with ropes and old straps, carries along all this equipment pre-
cisely at three and a half miles per hour, not varying a minute.
The method of putting letters into the canal boats is an
ingenious one. A little boy or girl waits at some bridge under
which the boat passes, and has, in his or her hand, a hollow
stick with a plug. He puts his stivers for postage into the
hollow piece, plugs it up, and drops it with the letter attached
to it into the boat. The boatman takes his money and the
letter, and throws the stick ashore to the boy, who is running
along the bank. Parcels are handed out and taken on, tolls
paid, \c., without impeding the progress of the trekshtivt.

Arrived at the Hague at five, and went to the "Two Cities,""
a very excellent inn. Here, at the Hague, we saw an admir-
able collection of French paintings — the restored spoils of the
Louvre. They are not yet all unpacked, and were lying mixed
in the rooms. The famous chef-d'oeuvre of Paul Potter — the

108 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

cattle piece — is perfect nature. No words can do justice
to it.

By a little address, we persuaded the old man who was
arranging them to venture into a room he was afraid to show,
and containing a most precious collection of the best. Here
we saw numbers of the most famous paintings of Rubens,
Vandyke, and the best Dutch and Flemish artists. How
delighted I was for two hours ! Several candle-light scenes
were wonderfully fine.

10th August. — At half-past twelve we embarked in a trek-
shuyt for Leyden (9 miles).

We were told by Messrs. Campbell and Boyce that the
banks of the canal from Delft to the Hague were the most
beautiful part of Holland; but we found, as everybody must
find, that they bear no comparison with that from the Hague
to Leyden. Here the constant succession of neat and indeed
beautiful villas for many miles forms a prospect that one regrets
seeing but to leave.

The broad street of Leyden, called the Altenbourg, is justly
celebrated as one of the finest things of the kind to be seen in
Europe. As a street, I have seen nothing that can compare
with it except the High Street at Oxford. It is perhaps double
the width of that at Oxford, and three or four times its length,
resembling it in its curvature, and thus presenting you with a
number of striking views. . . .

It is astonishing how they preserve everything in Holland
by their extreme cleanliness and care. The Dutch have a great
passion for dating everything, their houses, boats, bridges,
waggons, gates, &c. All the cushions in the Town Hall, for
the magistrates to sit on, were dated — one in 1732. The first
trekshuyt we entered bore the date 1745, and on inquiry we
found the boat to be really so old. Most of the houses,
observed, were dated 1600 to 1750.

In the library of the University there was an exquisitel;
beautiful manuscript copy of Virgil of the fourteenth century,
illuminated. What delighted me most were two manuscript
volumes of Hugo Grotius's " Commentaries on the New Testa-
ment," in his own hand. The librarian told me that the

DUTCH CATHEDRALS 109

K
niversity gave 200 guelders for each volume, i.e. about
r the two, which I would willingly pay for them, and take
eir bargain.

We were admitted by great good fortune to see a most
pital collection of Flemish paintings belonging to a private
gentleman. They were the property of a Catholic priest, Mr.
Ocko, who died very recently. A portrait of the wife of Claude
raine by Morcelses was more beautiful and natural to my
e than anything I ever beheld. She seemed to start into life
you looked at her.

There were some small pieces of Gerard Dow which seemed
yond the possibility of the art. I recollect one representing
cottage family at dinner, which I could have looked at for
urs. . . .

From Leyden he went by curricle, with Mr.
Latham, to Haarlem, where they stopped at the
*' Lion d'Or," and visited the cathedral.

. . . There is a striking difference between the appearance
of these immense monuments (the cathedrals) of other days in
England and here, and the manner in which they are at present
kept and made use of.1

In England one could imagine that they were edifices
erected in distant ages for a different race of men. We seem
to use them something like the fox, looking out of the ruined
hall as described by Ossian, not because they are the things we
KV/M/, but because we found them ready made to our hand.

Now in Holland everything is kept in repair — and bound-
less as the space is within their vast churches (formerly
cathedrals) there is no appearance of ruin.

Of course, all this renders it less venerable to the sight and
interesting to the mind, but their churches seem to correspond
more to their present wants and agree perfectly with their
straight-haired Domini and the demure, plainly dressed, quiet
comfortable - looking congregations. Throughout Holland I
recollect no symptom of a people who had gone further in

1 It must be remembered that this alludes to the England of 1816.

110 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

elegance and magnificence than seemed to suit the present
generation. Nothing in their country seems ever to have been
otherwise than it is, except from the gradual effect of time.
Nothing suffering from neglect or disuse.

At Amsterdam, to which he went by trekshuyt
from Haarlem, he was much struck by a small paint-
ing in the museum of the Stadt-house — a " school by
candle-light " by Gerard Dow.

How strikingly correct are the shades of light . . . the
very facsimile of a burning taper has been produced by the
painter.

The carved wood in the New Church (at Amsterdam) is
really exquisite, the most superb thing of the sort I have seen,
except perhaps the gallery of the Middle Temple Hall, and in
St. George's Chapel at Windsor. . . .

From Amsterdam he visited the village of Broek,
which was then, and I believe still is,1 a curiosity
among the villages of the world on account of its
extreme neatness, deemed even in Holland to be
carried to the extent of absurdity.

The streets are divided by little rivulets paved in mosaic
work with variegated shells. A dog or cat is never seen to
trespass upon them. Carriages are not permitted to enter the
village. The houses are about 300 in number. The shutters
of the front windows are generally closed, and the principal
entrance is never opened but on the marriage or death of one
of the family. The inhabitants scarcely ever admit a stranger
within their doors.

In our walk through we saw no human being but one or
two who were busy in scrubbing and polishing what appeared
as clean as it could be.

The village forms one of those things from which one man
may go out in raptures, and another may ridicule as an imitation

1 I saw it in 1874, and it was then much as mv father describes it here.

v AMSTERDAM— I3ROEK— ANTWERP 111

of a toy-shop, but all must acknowledge that they hail before
formed no idea of the reality, and unless they had seen it they
would never believe that such an appearance could be given to
a town containing 300 families pursuing the common avocations
of life.

It is said that the people of Brock once turned a stranger
out of their town for snee/ing in the street. How odd that for
300 years the inhabitants of this town should have kept up an
appearance which as distinctly marks them from their own

rtrymen as from the rest of the world. . . .
Returning to Amsterdam, the trekshuyt was
again taken to Utrecht.

AY hat respectable-looking people conduct these boats. Our
present helmsman has a big wig like a Chief Justice, black
breeches and stockings, and silver buckles as large as my
hand.

From Amsterdam to Utrecht, the canal is lined with villas,
so that it all seems a continued pleasure ground.

The. little summer-houses on the banks with the flower
gardens and statues, the delightful woods and the variety of
carriages along the road which borders the canal, the number
of little tea-parties in the summer-houses, and the general
appearance of the whole being devoted to peaceful undisturbed
enjoyment, form a most pleasing impression on the mind of the
':ig traveller, who, walking on the top of his trekshuyt,
glides through, receiving and returning the respectful salutations
invariably offered by the little groups who, strolling through
the gardens and groves,, or drinking their coffee in the neat
little casinos, give life and variety to the picture.

Three or four miles of this evening's journey are worth
coming from England to see.

From Utrecht, the diligence was taken through
Breda to Antwerp.

He w;is much impressed by many things in
Antwerp, especially by the Cathedral of St. Jacques,

112 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

with its " Descent from the Cross " by Rubens, and
" The Marriage Feast " by Vandyke.

The "Museum" contains many paintings, lately
returned from the Louvre. Among them is the " Crucifixion "
by Rubens, thought by many, and among others by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, to be the first in the world for colouring and
composition.

What struck me most in it was the wonderful correctness
of execution in the spear piercing our Saviour's side. The
impatient agony of the two thieves, and our Saviour's placid
countenance are admirably portrayed.

We went after church (Sunday, 18th August 1816) with
Madame Solvyns to see a capital private collection of paintings
belonging to a gentleman in the Place de Mer. At the head
of the staircase was a small statue of Cupid with this elegant
little French couplet under it : —

" Qui que tu sois, voici ton maitre,
II 1'est, le fut, ou le doit etre."

Before dinner I put in practice my intention of ascending
the spire of the cathedral, and a tremendous undertaking it
was. I went to the highest gallery just under the cupola, 620
steps from the bottom. My old guide stopped short at the
last landing-place, 120 feet from the top, and indeed the last
twenty or thirty feet were terrific, for it is all open work — old
gothic arches with every appearance of ruin and decay and held
together with clamps of iron. The wind seemed as if it would
blow one through the arches, and the noise was awful.

He left Antwerp by diligence for Brussels, and,
on the 20th August, visited the field of Waterloo.

The little eminence to which Bonaparte several times
advanced while the attempts were being made to force the
British line is much nearer the scene of action at the momenl
than I had imagined.

The morning was bright and beautiful. The harvest men
were gathering their crops of rye in that field where little
more than a year ago had been decided the fate of nations, and

v FIELD OF WATERLOO 113

which now exhibited scarce a mark by which the traveller
could discover that it had witnessed the desolation of such
mighty armies. The field of battle, and the woods which
skirt it, is one of the prettiest scenes I observed in the Nether-
lands, and would be admired for its natural beauty alone.

:

The journey from Brussels to Paris was made
alone, by cabriolet, his friend Latham having sepa-
ted from him at Brussels, to go to Spa. The route
y through Braine - le - Compte, Soignies, Mons,
Vralenciennes, and Cambray.

,

Valenciennes contains now a great body of British troops.
met Major Ilolcroft in the streets, who could not believe his
•es, and wondered, as well he might, how and why I had

nd my way there. I inquired for my old schoolfellow, Poole
ngland, and found I should most likely see him at Cambray.

Major (then Captain) Holcroft, Royal Artillery,
above alluded to, had command of the " Car " Brigade
of Artillery (a volunteer artillery company of farmers'
sons with their draught horses) at the Battle of Queen-
ston Heights in 1812.

Poole England (whom, as he had been detached
from Cambray to some place nearer the coast, he
missed seeing) lived to be a General Officer and
Commandant of the Royal Artillery. He saw active
service in the expedition to the Weser (1805-6), at
the Cape of Good Hope, 1806-7, in the Peninsular
War, 1813 and 1814, and died November 6, 1884,
aged ninety-six.

Arriving at Paris on the 24th August 1816, my
father remained there three weeks, stopping at the
Hotel de Breteuil in the Rue de Rivoli, where he
had, he says, " two very convenient little rooms, snugly
furnished, looking into the Tuileries Gardens."

H

114 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

After dressing I observed the gardens crowded with gay
company. In a few minutes Louis XVIII. made his appear-
ance at an upper window of the palace. I was standing
immediately opposite, and should certainly have known him
by his portraits I have seen. Hats were all taken off, and
I joined in the cry of Vive le Roi, which was not as hearty
as I expected it would have been, not like John Bull's shouting
when he is really delighted. He soon hobbled away, showing
much infirmity in his motions. The Dukes of Berri and of
Angouleme and the Duchesses afterwards presented themselves
at the window, and soon retired.

The world probably contains nothing that equals in
splendour the area comprehending the Tuileries Gardens and
Palace, the Louvre, and Palais Royal.

^It is uncomfortable walking through Paris, foot-passengers
throng in the middle of the road and coaches drive everywhere.
It's all sauve qui pent, and you require to be constantly on the
watch. I saw few elegant carriages, and, excepting the palace
itself and surrounding objects, there is more real splendour
in a full levee at Carlton House or the Queen's Palace. '

At 2, I walked in the Champs Elysees. The whole place
is full of booths, stages, and thousands and thousands of well-
dressed people.

The most curious sight is the Mat de Cocagne, which
furnished the wits lately with a very good subject for a cari-
cature. It is a great pole of forty to fifty feet high, at the top
of which is a bush, and to the branches are tied silver cups and
other temptations for adventurers. The pole is greased, and
the great amusement is to see hundreds, one after the other,
attempt to gain the top. Often, when they are nearly up,
they begin to slip, and then it is out of the question to stop,
and away they go.

The "caricature" above alluded to is a famous
one by George Cruikshank, 1815. The gouty and
infirm king has by great efforts reached the summit
of the pole, and is about to grasp the crown. He is

I

v THE MAT DE COCAGNE 115

supported from below by Wellington (who props
him up with his sword point, to his great discomfort),
and on the shoulders of Austria, Russia, and Prussia.
His pockets are laden with money-bags and holy
water, to satisfy the claims of the emigres. His
position is evidently an unhappy one. Napoleon
watches him from across the sea, and is saying, " I
climbed up twice, without any help."

1 couldn't help thinking when I entered the Champs.
KlvMvs to-day of Sterne's exclamation, "All the world had
gone a May-poling.11 Every face seems determined to be
pleased. Here, as every where, a great proportion of the
loungers were military. I saw a partv of young soldiers who
were dancing hand to hand in a large ring, and singing a
ational song of which the burden, of course, was f'/rr lc Roi.
Probably some of these same men only la>t year deserted a
usurper's standard. One would think to-night that there were
but the words V'irc lc Uol in the French language. I daresay
there have been more Vive le Ro'i.s said and sung this day and
night in Paris than there have been "Clod save the King"
through the last reign. Poor Louis can't feel much elevated
by the shouts of this Paris mob.

Passing near the Louvre in a cabriolet to-day I met the
Count de Chains. He was quite astonished to see me, and
seemed greatly pleased to find a person from Canada. He gave
me a long account of his own private interests, and of the politics
of the court respecting persons in his situation. He says that
those who adhered most obstinately to the royal party during the
Revolution, and like himself abandoned their country until the
restoration of the monarchy, are named ultra-royalists, and are
not provided for or employed in the same manner as those
who, having been servants of Buonaparte, contributed by their
defection to the king's success; but he savs it is unavoidable.

The Count de Chalus, here referred to, was one
of the Royalist emigres to Canada after the French
Revolution. In Book 285, Record Office, Upper

116 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Canada, 1793, Major-General the Count de Chalus
and servants are entered as residing at Niagara, and
subsequently Colonel le Vicomte de Chalus and
Madame Vicomtesse, and Major Quetton de St.
George are entered as having resided at Windham.

%8th August. — I went to the Theatre Francis. The piece
was Andromache, and the famous Talma was Hector. His
action is graceful, his voice admirably tragic, manly, and
deep-toned.

From the little opportunity I had of judging of Talma — by
what I saw of his manner and his countenance, and heard of his
voice — I should think he must be a much greater treat to a
Frenchman than Kemble to an Englishman.

Later on he saw Talma again in the part of
Hamlet, as adapted to the French stage, and writes : —

One feels naturally great prejudices at the tragedy of
Shakespeare being moulded into rhyme and stripped of those
marks and touches of nature which, if they could be rendered
into another language, would scarcely be understood. The
admirable soliloquy is not attempted, and they dispense with
the players and the grave-diggers, who would be rather
grotesque in regular hexameters. You would suppose it could
excite little feeling in the representation, but it was far
otherwise.

His manner is graceful, manly, and chaste, without cant or
grimace. The audience were extremely affected. I think, had
I been a Frenchman, I could have wished for nothing better in
tragedy. With all the disadvantages of not understanding
him with ease, I am very sure I was never altogether so
satisfied with the performance of a tragedy on the English
stage as I was with this. Ophelia was a wretched stick.

.. I have now heard Talma, Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons play,
and seen Vestris dance, rather better fortune than I had
anticipated, j

3rd September. — Went to the Chamber of Deputies in the
Palais Bourbon. Below the President's chair is the place for

r

!;;

v VIEW FROM ST. GERMAIN 117

the orators, for the members do not, as in the English House
f Commons, speak in their places ; but, if they have anything
. they must mount the rostrum, and, after having made
eir bow to the President, turn their back upon him, and
address themselves to the Deputies.

I doubt whether this system is not a wise one, for it gives^
ore solemnity and form to the meeting, and precludes those
conversation pieces which take up so much time in the British
House of Commons. Besides, I daresay many a man gets up
in his place and talks a great deal of nonsense who would
ile about making a formal exhibition and putting himself
a situation where something like an oration would be ex-,
pected from him.

He enjoyed especially his visits to Fontainebleau,
It. Cloud, Versailles, &c., and the views over the
country obtainable from the heights near them ; and
more than all, the prospect from the terrace in front
of the Palace of St. Germain.1

I remained a long time feasting my eyes on its beauty. At
your feet is a vineyard clothing the natural declivity to the
banks of the Seine ; behind are the gardens and palace of St.
(id-main; on your right the heights of Marli, covered with
lives; the palace and park of Malmaison ; before you, the
Seine meandering through the whole extent of the prospect;
upon its banks the towns of Croissy, Le Pic, Ruit, and Nan-
terre; in the distance Mont Valerien and Montmartre, and the
venerable spire of St. Denis Cathedral ; on the left, Montmor-
ency and its delightful vale. While I was looking at this
charming valley, a storm of rain and mist swept over it. At
the same time the sun shone bright upon the heights of Marli,
and as the cloud retired and restored the beauties of the Vale
of Montmorency, nothing in scenery, though it might be more
grand, could be more beautiful and pleasing.

... I was much struck with the graceful, easy manner of
French men and women of all ranks. You see nowhere any

1 See also page 130.

118 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

mark of embarrassment or awkwardness, nor is their manner at
all an impudent one, or an affected imitation of the higher
classes.

It sits as 'easily on them, and seems as much their own, as
that of the most finished courtier.

I observed a common, plain-looking countryman in his
home-spun jacket, straw hat, and long queue, meeting another
peasant with his wife, and bowing as he approached, with all the
easy grace imaginable, " Madame, j'ai Thonneur de vous saluer,
et monsieur," and throws out his hand to " monsieur " with the
careless air of a man of fashion.

If an honest English farmer were to attempt this sort of
thing, he would certainly look ridiculous, not but that his
hearty shake of the hand and honest bluntness may be quite
as pleasing.

. . . One cannot help observing the striking difference
between the French and English in another way.

Most of the requests which in English are simply, " Ring
the bell," or " Knock," or " Shut the gate," have in Paris the
termination, " S'il vous plait," or the initials S.V.P.

September. — I breakfasted this morning with Mr.
M'Leay and Mr. Ritchie, secretary to Sir Charles Stewart, the
English Ambassador, a fine young man, botany mad, and
all on fire to visit the interior of Africa to gather leaves and
mosses. . . .

On going to the diligence office I found the stages to Rouen
full. While I was inquiring, a gentleman came in to hire a
carriage to Dieppe, and he readily agreed to join, so I engaged
a carriage for three, for he had a servant with him, and we had
to pay 100 francs. . . ./My travelling companion I found very
pleasant, and as much a Frenchman as English, which proved
convenient. His name is Beauvais. His sister is mother of
George Auldjo of Montreal, and he knows many of my Canadian
acquaintances. Sir Alexander M'Kenzie married his niece.^

Sailing from Dieppe on the evening of the 14th
September, he reached Brighton after a passage of

v A LONDON MOB 119

twelve hours, on the morning of the 15th September
181&I

London, 21,9^ November. — ... I saw lately an inconsider-
able example of a London mob. After a seditious meeting in
Spa fields, some hundreds collected at night, and, proceeding to
St. James1 Square, broke some of the windows of Lord Castle-
rea^-lfs house. Then returning they moved up St Martin's
Lane, broke into some baker and butcher shops, and carried oft*
the bread and meat ; and sticking some loaves on long poles,
marched riotously about Leicester Square and up to Seven
Dials. I was in the midst of them, and greater cowards I
never saw. They were in continual fear of the military, and
two dragoons could have put them to flight. The peace
oilicers succeeded in suppressing them. . . .

December. — I went down to-day with Mr. Adams in
his carriage to Sydenham and dined with my good friends there,
who always crive me a cordial welcome.

Our dinner party, besides the many ladies of the family,
consisted of Sir Herbert Sawyer, the admiral who commanded
on the Halifax station some years ago; Captain Wise of the
Gmnu-ux, whose gallant conduct, was conspicuous in the late
at lack on Algiers; and Mr. Scott, the celebrated surgeon of
Bromley. Mr. Campbell, the poet, joined us in the evening.
Captain Dacres, Mr. Adams'1 cousin, who lost the Gucrricre,1
!o ha vi' dined, but was prevented. I had a good deal
of conversation with Sir Herbert Sawyer on American matters.
We spent an extremely pleasant day, and at least ended the
old year happily.

I*/ January 1817. — Breakfasted with Mr. Adams, and re-
turned to town with Captain Wise, who offered me a seat in
his gig. Dined with the Merrys, and thus finished my New

Year's Day.

1 In the action between the British frigate Gnerrit-re (once a French
vi»>M-l , -\\\ iTuns. cri-w 244, and the American friir.-itc- Constitution (56 guns,
crew 4»;n). Auirust 19, 1812, Captain Dacres fought his ship until she was
so dam.-igcd that she could not afterwards be kept afloat, and only then
lowered his flag.

120 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

4>th January. — Commenced my journey to Northampton-
shire to pay the Reverend George Boulton, Rector of Oxen den
(brother of Mr. D'Arcy Boulton, Attorney-General of Upper
Canada), my long-promised visit.

. . . They gave me a very cordial welcome, and from Mr.
Boultons extreme and indeed wonderful resemblance in manners
and conversation to his brother, and from the cheerful good-
humour of the whole family, I soon felt myself perfectly at
home.

%0th January. — I rose at daylight (to return to London),
and found all the young ladies downstairs and a comfortable
breakfast waiting for me. . . .

On the return journey he stopped at Coventry,
where a fellow-traveller, Mr. Ing, showed him what
was to be seen. He also visited Kenilworth, Warwick
Castle, Stratford-on-Avon, and Stowe, reaching
London on the 25th.

%8th January. — Parliament met to-day, and I went there at
one o'clock.

At two o'clock, the Prince Regent entered and delivered
the speech from the throne in a good strong voice, and with
proper effect.

The whole scene is very splendid. The great number of
well-dressed ladies, foreigners of distinction, peers in their robes,
bishops in lawn, judges and Serjeants in their wigs and scarlet,
&c. The Prince must have dreaded very much this necessary
ceremony, and not without cause, as was proved by the dis-
graceful outrages committed on his passage back through
St. James"1 Park. The window of his state carriage was broken
in by great stones thrown by the mob, and perforated (as is
imagined) by bullets. The horses were attacked ; Colonel
Barton, who commanded the Guards, pelted, &c.

One thousand pounds reward is offered for the discovery of
any person who threw the stones, but nothing is yet found out.

About this time my father ceased keeping his
Journal regularly, resuming it again during a trip,

v OPENING OF PARLIAMENT li>l

rid Matlock, to tlie English lakes and Scotland in
April and May 1817, in the form of letters to my
mother, to whom he was then engaged.
Writing of Matloek, he says :

We set out to scramble to the top of High Tor. Did you
know that this mountain is called "The Height of Abraham,"
from its striking resemblance to the Heights of Abraham at
Quebec. I was not disappointed. The prospect was awfully
grand, but not so good as several views we snatched as we
laboured up the side.

The Yorkshire scenery struck him as especially
beautiful. lie writes of the route from Sheffield to
Leeds, through AY'akcHeld, " I have seen no tract
of equal extent half so rich and lovely. I must give
up my favourite Kent, and give, above all, the pre-
ference to Yorkshire."

L, 8/A April 1817.

This morning I was detained determining my tour, and
preparing for pedestrian feats by sending off my bag.
to Ambleside to wait for me. At breakfast I met a young
gentleman who had been detained a prisoner in the United
States during the late war, and knew some of my old friends
who were his companions in captivity.

From this point — generally walking, but some-
times on horseback or driving — he visited all the
points of most interest on Lakes Windermere, Coni-
ston Water, Grasmere, Derwentwater, and Ulswater.

In writing to my mother from Windermere, he
says : " The poetical fit, as I told you, has been
coming on ever since I beheld the Vale of Otley,
and all the charms of Yorkshire," and he sends her
some verses, of which I give the opening and con-
cluding lines.

122 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Lines on an April visit to Windermere on a fine evening,
immediately after a storm.

THE clouds are fled, the storm is o'er,
The winds are hushed that swept thy shore,
'Tis evening, and thy mountains gleam
Beneath the sun's departing beam,
The mists the clouds had scattered wide,
Are gilded as they mount their side.
More lovely now each charm appears,
'Tis beauty smiling through her tears.
Sweet lake, whose bosom clear, serene,
Reflects each feature of the scene,
One who ne'er thought to wander here,
A stranger greets thee, Windermere.

Born in a land where winter reigns
Stern as o'er bleak Siberia's plains,
Where summer's bright and genial sky
Might rival that of Italy,
I oft have stray'd where deep'ning wood
Frowns o'er St. Lawrence' noble flood,
Or where Niagara's torrents roar —
Sublimest work in nature's store.
On Abr'ham's plains where Britain's pride —
Lamented Wolfe — in victory died.
But could I hope to wander here,
On thy sweet margin — Windermere ?

'

O Sun ! in all thy various course,
E'en in those regions where thy force
Is fiercest felt, where shine most bright
Thy glories — splendid orb of light !
Where suppliant nations bow the knee
And own no other God but thee.
Or in those milder climes where reigns
Thy temper'd influence o'er the plains,
Where hills and dales and meads are seen
Like Albion's, in eternal green,
Say — do'st thou ever rise to cheer
A brighter scene than Windermere ?

THE ENGLISH LAKES

Farewell each cot, each cove, each hill,
In mem'ry shall I view thee still,
Each isle thy ambient water laves
Each tree that o'er thy bosom waves,
And ev'ry charm that centres here,
Farewell — farewell — sweet Windermere.

You may smile at your lucky escape when I tell you that,
some former attacks of the poetical fit, I have been very
nearly exercising inv troublesome talent on a subject whose
beauties lie much nearer my heart than those of Windermere,
but I have managed to restrain my wicked propensity.

It was prudent evidently to make the first experiment on

tpoor senseless lake, which cannot feel the insult.

After seeing Ulswater, he returned to Penrith
jfore taking the coach to Carlisle.

;

So ended my tour of the Lakes. Were I required to give
,n opinion, I should hesitate much in deciding which is the
prettiest. Windermere has its island, and its mountains are
extremely majestic.

The Coniston Water is beautiful, and its surrounding
mountains are grand, but there is a nakedness about it. The
Derwentwater has exquisite beauties. The whole shore from
the town to the Borrowdale Pass along Lowdon — the fine
islands — the wood opposite Keswick — the Crosthwaite Church
at the top — Skiddaw behind, and the town of Keswick seated
on the bank, form a combination of charms.

But then again Ulswater, with all its grand scenery around
t (certainly not so wild and romantic as the others), and its
fine, free, bold expanse of water, has such an air of beauty of
civilisation, that I believe I should lean to it in my judgment ;
but it has one sad want — islands — at least in its principal
expanse.

On the whole, my trip to the Lakes gratified me extremely.
Our large rivers rolling among their numerous islands afford
many hundreds of scenes of much the same nature, but we
have no Skiddaw or Helvellyn, and the grand characteristics of
Westmoreland were a novel sight to me.

124 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

I was much pleased with the people of the country — I mean
the farmers and shepherds. What shoes they use among these
mountains ; what ponderous frames of wood and iron. Do you
know I should not be surprised if the phrase of a son " stepping
into his father's shoes " was taken from Westmoreland and
Cumberland, where the shoes may literally descend as an heir-
loom from generation to generation.

Passing through Gretna Green into Scotland, he
visited the Falls of the Clyde.

After I had ascended the hill on my return home, the view
of the Clyde below me, and of Lanark beautifully situated on
the opposite bank was extremely pleasing. Indeed, I was sur-
prised I had not heard the scenery about here more particularly
spoken of. It excels many places I have seen described in
most glowing colours, and I shall never withhold my assent
from any Scotsman when he expatiates on the beauties of
the " Vale of the Clyde."

At Glasgow he met an old brother officer, Captain
Jarvie, who, jointly with his father and brothers, was
proprietor of the Anderton Rope Works there.

How little we thought four years ago, when we were march-
ing about Canada, that we should ever meet in Glasgow. Poor
fellow, his arm is a useless burthen to him, and another serious
shot he received in his leg, when York (Toronto) was attacked
just this month four years ago,1 has changed him much from
the braw, sturdy chiel he used to be. I spent the morning in
perambulating the town under his guidance.

From Glasgow his route lay by steamer down the
Clyde to Dunglass, whence he saw Dumbarton
Castle; then along Loch Lomond to Luss, from
whence he ascended Ben Lomond ; then by Aber-

1 Captain Jarvie appears to have served in the Incorporated Militia at
the taking of York in 1813 and was also in the campaign of 1812.

v GLASGOW— ABERDEEN 125

foyle to Loch Katrine, Callander, Stirling, and
Edinburgh.

Saturday, 19th April 1817. — At eight this morning I left
Stirling in the mail for Edinburgh. This is a charming and
delightful country. I am quite in love with it. It has far
exceeded my expectations. . . .

Before seeing anything in Edinburgh, he deter-
mined to pay a visit, though a hurried one and in-
volving a long journey by coach, to Aberdeen.

K\ could be well content to go no further north, but I cannot
the idea of being within twenty-four hours of the place
re Dr. Strachan, my best and dearest friend, was born and
educated, and where I believe he has a brother still residing,
ithout making an exertion to see it.

Setting off at 8 A.M. from Edinburgh, he readied
Lberdeen after twenty-one hours in the coach. He
left to return the next day ut 3 P.M., and was in
Edinburgh at noon the day following, two nights
(forty-two hours in all) of coach travelling.

At Aberdeen he found Dr. Strachan's brother,
who showed him over the Grammar School, where
Dr. Strachan had been educated, and some other
places in the town.

I recognised a little, and but little, of his brother's manner
in him, for they have been separated nearly twenty years.
After a good deal of gossiping on subjects equally interesting,
I really believe, to both of us, he led me round, through and
about Aberdeen.

Dempsey^s Inn, at which I stayed, is by far the most com-
fortable lodging in every way that I have found in Scotland —
I think I may say better than any I have found in England.
The fish here is delicious, particularly the haddocks, or, as the
Scotch call them, haddies.

126 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Of the oatmeal cake he found in Scotland, he
says : —

I like it very much ; I tasted some in England, but it was
soft, tough, and sour. The Scotch understand it better ; theirs
is crisp and sweet.

On the night journey from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, a
gentleman I had seen at breakfast at the inn insisted on my
taking his large greatcoat. I assure you \felt his kindness all
the way to town, for in this northern climate a night on the
top of a coach, with a cold wind blowing right off the sea, is
not at all delightful. Another insisted on my putting on a
pair of overalls he had with him, part of his old military
equipment, and pressed it with so much anxiety that I con-
sented ; and thus, equipped by subscription, I was independent
of the cold.

*At breakfast my obliging friend was very anxious to kno\
how I had passed the night. There was something in the frank
openness of his manner that struck me very forcibly from its
resemblance to something I had been used to, and I could not
forbear saying, " I am convinced, sir, from your manner and
voice, that I have travelled before now with some near relations
of yours a long distance from hence — I won't ask you what
your name is, but what it is not. It is not Forsyth, is it ? w
" Yes, sir, my name is Forsyth." " Have you not some bro thers
in America ? " " No, they are cousins ; but I wonder you should
have been so much struck with the resemblance."

I had been intimate with several of his family, two of
whom, when I was a schoolboy, on my different journeys home
during the vacation, had taken the same care of me that he
was doing now. This was rather a singular occurrence, and
has been a fortunate one for me, as he is as kind and attentive
as the oldest friend could be, and knows everything and every-
body here (Edinburgh), for he was educated at the Edinburgh
University, and has hosts of friends in the town. He and I
took up our lodgings at M'Gregor's Hotel in Princes Street.

%4<th April. — Jeffrey l had begged me to go down early in

1 Francis Jeffrey, afterwards Lord Jeffrey, Judge of the Court of
Session.

;

CAPTAIN BARCLAY

:

e day to see him, and after my return (from Leith) I should
have gone, but Captain Barclay, the gallant and unfortunate
naval officer, who lost his squadron and the use of his remain-
ing arm on Lake Erie last war, did me the favour to call, and
h.-ul so many questions to ask about his good friends in Canada,
that I could not easily leave before three.

The British squadron on Lake Erie, under the
command of Captain R. H. Barclay, was after a
ost gallant contest with a force superior in guns
and men, compelled to surrender to the American
fleet on the 10th September 1813.

^t may be interesting to add that Captain Barclay
(as well as Wilkie, the celebrated painter), had been
pupils of Dr. Strachan at the parish school of Kettle
before the latter went to Canada./

My father had brought with him from London
letters of introduction to Mr. Jeffrey, mentioned
above, the editor of the Edinburgh Review, and then
one of the recognised leaders of Whig society in
Edinburgh ; and also (from Campbell, the poet) to
Sir Walter (then Mr.) Scott.

To resume from my father's Journal : —

Jeffrey has a very pretty place called Craig's Crook, about
three miles from town, which he has taken a twenty years'* lease
of. Accompanied by Mrs. Jeffrey, we took a long walk before
dinner around the estate. It commands from different points
charming views of Edinburgh and the Forth. . . .

Before dinner we talked of Scotch law and Scotch Judges,
Lord Selkirk's settlement, &c., and a variety of matters. With
Mrs. Jeffrey I was rather at home, for she is from New York,1
and we found we had many acquaintances in common.

A Mr. Thomson, editor of Burns's poems, Dr. Gordon, and
a brother of Mr. Jeffrey's dined with us.

1 Mrs. Jeffrey was a Miss \Vilkes, of New York.

128 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

I had heard from several people that Jeffrey's conversation
was like a well-written book, and really his language flows from
him as rapidly and as naturally as the Clyde rolls down the
Cora-Linn. In this respect he is a curiosity. But, after all,
my admiration of him is not unbounded ; for, between ourselves,
I think him merely a clever man, and should be sorry to be
bound by his judgment, or to act on all his principles. . . .

. . . Jeffrey assured me — and no one can know better than
himself — that the public have that opinion of Campbell's
poetical talents, from the great excellence of the few specimens
he has given, that a bookseller would give 4000 guineas for a
poem containing 200 pages that he would authenticate with
his signature. How provoking that the man will not write,
but compile. . . .

After three or four days spent in seeing Edinburgh,
he writes : —

I had thought of staying here till Monday, and hearing a
sermon on Sunday from Mr. Alison l at the Cowgate Chapel,
but I have been getting more and more impatient every half-
hour to move southwards, and have just determined to set out
at eight in the morning for Melrose. . . .

From Melrose he walked to Abbotsford (26th
April 1817).

I set off with Mr. Campbell's letter and my Ben Lomond
stick in my hand. As I passed a stone quarry half a mile from
Abbotsford, a merry simple-looking Scotchman jumped out of
it, left his work and followed me, eager to give me every
information. "This place belongs to Mr. Scott, doesn't it?"
" Aye sure, Walter Scott, Walter Scott."

This good man I learnt afterwards was Mr. Tom Purdie,
the "facetious Tom Purdie," as his master called him, the
poet's factotum and superintendent general.

At Abbotsford, Mr. Scott came in saying : —

" It gives me the greatest pleasure at all times to see a friend
of Thomas Campbell, and you could not have come more

1 The Rev. Archibald Alison, father of Sir Archibald Alison, the historian.

5

v MELROSE— ABBOTSFORD 129

opportunely, for we are just sitting down to dinner; so walk
in without ceremony and sec- what we have got." After due
expressions of extreme regret at the unseasonable interruption,
I walked in, and was introduced to .Mrs. Scott. They have
merely eome here themselyes for a week or two, leaving their
children in Edinburgh* My attention was rou.-ed by the most
striking specimen of the canine tribe, by name '4 Maida," tliat
I have ever seen, a mo^t beautiful and immense Highland stag-
hound, with close hair and mane like a lion, 'with his back
six inches at least above the table, and larger altogether than
a Highland steal.

Greyhounds were xhncn about the room, and Mrs. Scott's
vourite spaniel seemed quite to fancy himself one of the
company.

Dinner progressed charmingly, and at last, when Mrs. Scott
withdrew, he squared round to the lire and we sat down to
our bottle of Madeira. . . .

His conversation is that of a plain, unaffected, thinking
man, as remote as possible from anything dogmatic or pedantic
— full of information, dealt out in a simple easy manner; not
like .leHVcv's, elegant, refined, unhesitating, anil almost ora-
torical; nor playful, pointed, and sparkling like Mr. Campbell's.

At Sydenham, besides Mr. Adams's little boys, there are
often other children in the room, and whenever Mr. Campbell
opens his mouth, their own conversation is suspended at once,
and they all look at him with a spreading grin, sure that
something is coming out very funny; and very rarely indeed
does he close his mouth without affording them ample excuse
for increasing that grin to a titter.

Mr. Scott, good-humoured, and replete with recollections of
every kind, and drawn from every source, says many good
things in a plain way, and whenever he describes reminds you
of some of his poems, giving you all the little traits, the com-
bination of which makes up the picture, with such striking and
felicitous minuteness that if you look at him and watch his
countenance and manner you fancy you are looking at the
picture he is drawing.

I shall never forget his description of one of Bird's paint-

T

130 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

ings which he once saw, and which struck his fancy, called
"The Arrival of Good News." He put himself into all the
attitudes, and assumed the different characters of every figure
in the curious group. The post-boy chuckling as he took his
dram ; the drunken old soldier ; the country lads quizzing him
behind his back ; the old village politician who had hold of the
important Gazette, and was reading it aloud to the company,
very much annoyed by the officiousness of his next neighbour,
who as fast as he read the news, was bawling it into the ear of
a deaf man, whose stupid stare and bewildered eye showed how
imperfectly he caught it. ...

As we dined early he took me out afterwards over his
estate. After a long walk ^about the fields and along the
river, suspended to point out many projected improvements,
and to tell at greater ease many a good story, and now and
then to use the little ivory whistle in calling the greyhounds
from worrying the hares which abound in the plantations, we
returned homewards, and took a minute survey of the new
addition which is building, and which, when finished, will form
in fact the principal part of the house. " I managed a long
time,"" he said, " with the rooms I am in, till one day last
summer, Sir Henry M'Dougairs fat butler actually stuck fast
between the table and the wall, and then I thought it high
time to think of enlarging.""

He is putting up a dining-room of 27 by 17, which, except
in cases of an extravagant kind, will prevent any similar
accidents in future. . . .

He had told me while we were walking that I must stay all
night, so I made myself easy for the evening, and it was spent
in the most sociable and familiar manner possible.

The poet went over all his peregrinations in the Netherlands
and France in 1814, and related all the particulars of his visit
to Waterloo three weeks after the battle. It pleased me to
find that in going over the same country, he was most struck,
and dwelt with most enthusiasm on the very two things that
had made, and have left, the strongest impression on my own
mind — the Cathedral at Antwerp, and the view from the
terrace of St. Germain. ,

v JEFFREY, SCOTT, CAMPBELL 131

I Ie told me that if I would spend another day with him, he
would take me to see some little lake in the vicinity, which he
seemed to admire, but I was sensible my visit must be an
intrusion, and felt it a duty to lessen as much as possible the
sum of the evil. . . . The next morning I set out on my return
to Melrose, accompanied by my kind host, who walked a great
part of the way with me ; and at parting begged me when I
saw Mr. Campbell to remember me most kindly to him, and
tell him "how extremely thankful he was to him for affording
him an opportunity of seeing me." (Vidi — / have seen; I
thought to myself.)

As my father was only a young man when he
wrote the above as to Jeffrey, Scott, and Campbell,
and his acquaintance, with the two former at all
events, was but a slight travelling one, it is interest-
ing to compare the impressions set down in his
Journal with those penned by one l who knew them
intimately ; and which I give below : —

I saw much (during the winter of 1816-17) of the Whig
society of Edinburgh, which at that period enjoyed a high,
and in some respects a deserved reputation. . . .

There was considerable cleverness, much fun, and great
bonhomie and joviality in this society, and at Craigcrook in
particular (Jeffrey^ country house near Edinburgh), where
Jeffrey gave vent to the kindliness of his disposition, and the
rich How of his talk, nothing could be more fascinating than
the conversation which frequently prevailed. . . .

Sir Walter Scott's memory was extraordinary, as it is in
almost all men of the highest intellectual character ; his power
of observation perhaps unrivalled ; his humour great. The
whole stores of his mind thus acquired, relating chiefly to men,
manners, and former customs or events, were poured out in
company, or in his own house, with great power of narrative
and with infinite humour and effect. But the greater part of

1 Sir Archibald Alison.

132 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

the charm which captivated all who approached him, lay in the
manner of telling. . . .

In ordinary society Campbell did not appear by any means
to the same advantage as Jeffrey, though he possessed incom-
parably more genius and sensibility. The former made no
attempt at display in conversation, but the occasional splendid
expression, the frequent tear in the eye, bespoke the profound
emotion which was felt. The latter spoke lightly and felici-
tously on every subject— with equal facility he could descant
on literature, philosophy, poetry, politics, or the arts ; but the
very copiousness of the stream, and the readiness with which it
was poured forth on all occasions, proved that no reluctance
was felt at unlocking its fountains, and that they lay near
the surface. No deep wells of thought or feeling existed in
Jeffrey. . . .*

My father always looked back with pleasure to
his having met Scott and Campbell. Engravings of
both, that of the latter given to him by Campbell,
hung in his library at Beverley House.

From Melrose, after seeing the ruins of the Abbey,
he returned to London, via Kelso, Berwick, Alnwick,
Newcastle, Durham, York, and Cambridge, stopping
a little time at some of these places.

The town of Kelso I am in raptures with, and really
believe I should choose it for a summer's retirement in pre-
ference to anything I remember in England or Scotland. It
is a fine, clean little town. The Tweed and Teviot abound in
trout, and the walks around are not to be surpassed in beauty
and pleasantness.

At Alnwick he had friends in Mr. and Mrs. Smith,
and Major and Mrs. Derenzy.2

1 Autobiography of Sir Archibald Alison, by Lady Alison (1883).

2 A sister of Mrs. Smith was married to Colonel Pilkington, R.E.,
whom my father often saw at Woolwich. Major Derenzy had served in
the 41st Regiment in Canada in the War of 1812-15.

v ALNWICE— LONDON

It was rather odd, and rather fortunate, that my clever
calculations should have brought me to AInwick on the very
day on which Lord Percy was married. The ceremony, as you
know, took j) lace yesterday in London (2!)th April 1S17), but
it was celebrated at Alnwick by the usual rejoicings.

The Duke's tenants began to assemble at an early hour in
the market-place, where an ox was put on about ten o'clock to
roast for their repast in the afternoon. This was the first ox
I had ever seen roasted whole.

. . . When Mr. Smith gave the signal, about a do/en
butchers hewed this great ox to pieces on a scaffold in the
centre of the market-place, and it was then thrown in bits
among the crowd. Several cartloads of rolls were disposed of
in the same way, and about 1200 quarts of ale were distributed.

He wus much struck with King's College,
Cambridge.

The ornamental Gothic carving of the interior is inex-

ibly rich. The addition of the Crown to the UMial

Gothic ornaments of the Rose and Portcullis has the finest
possible effect.

On the 6th May he returned to London, having
had most exceptionally fine weather throughout his
tour.

It may be a century before the month of April will be
found so propitious to the vagabond life I have been leading.
Not a town have I seen whose streets were not dry, not a lake
or landscape on which the sun was not shining, nor, except the
snow-storm on Helvellvn, did I ever ascend an eminence to
view the prospect it commanded, without enjoying it to its
utmost limit, unobscured by fog or clouds. . . .

His Journal closes with this entry : —
17/7? Mat/ 1817. — Poole England,1 now a reduced Captain
1 Seepage 113.

134 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

of Artillery, breakfasted with me. Our first meeting since we
were children.

When not long after this my father returned to
Canada, it can be gathered from the preceding
chapters that his experience, both professionally and
generally, during the five years which had elapsed
since the breaking out of the War of 1812, had been
of a more varied kind than was usual at his age.
Soon after the war he had been placed in a post
where he had both work and responsibility thrown
upon him, and had been compelled to decide and
act for himself. This, with what he had afterwards
seen of the world, was no doubt of much service
to him.

CHAPTER VI

MARRIAGE— APPOINTED ATTORNEY-GENERAL—WORK
AT THE BAR AND IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

1817-23

Marriage— Return to Canada — Appointed Attorney-General — Letters
from Sir F. Robinson, Sir (Jordon Druinmond, and others— ( 'ontest
between Lord Selkirk and the \orth-\\ t^L ( ompany— Appointed to
repre<ent York (Toronto) in the House of Assembly — Sent as Com-
missioner to Kngland on the Mihjt-ot of the fiscal relations hetween
I'pper and Lourr ( anada — Addre-s of both Houses with re-prct
to this Called to the Knirli^h liar -Interest in emigration — De-
clines Brants of (iovernment land, and the Chief Justiceship of
Mauritius, Arc.--- Advocates a confederation of all the British Ameri-
can Provinces— Sir 1*. Maitlaml — Mr. Copley— The Duke of Welling-
ton— Urged by Dr. Strachau to remain permanently in England —
Return to Canada.

ON the 5th June 1817, my father was married to
Emma Walker * at the New Church of St. Maryle-
bone in London.

About two months afterwards, on 1st August
1817, they sailed for Canada, and after an exceed-
ingly bad and long voyage reached York on 1st
November, and settled down at Beverley House,2
which had been purchased from Mr. D'Arcy Boul-
ton, who built it at some date previous to the
breaking out of the War of 1812-15.

In this house, subsequently enlarged, they lived
until their death, and here all their children were
born.3

1 The daughter of Charles Walker, Esq., of Harlesden, Middlesex,
whose sister Elizabeth had married Mr. William Merry, and brought up
this niece a great deal with her own family.

8 Where my brother, Christopher Robinson, now lives.

3 See Appendix B., V.

135

136 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Before he reached York a vacancy had occurred
on the Bench in Upper Canada, which led to the
appointment of Mr. Boulton, then Attorney-General,
to a Judgeship, and my father was nominated to
succeed him as Attorney- General, his commission
being dated llth February 1818.

The following letter from Sir Gordon Drummond
to the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
recommends him for this post in succession to Mr.
Boulton :—

BATH, 26th March 1817.

DEAR SIR, — Having just been informed that an application
has recently been made by Mr. Boulton, the Attorney-General
of Upper Canada, to be promoted to the vacant seat on the
Bench in that province ; and that a communication has been
forwarded to His Majesty's Government by Lieutenant-
Governor Gore recommendatory of that measure, I beg leave
to remind you of an interview I had the pleasure of having
with you some time since, in which I urged the appointment
of Mr. Robinson, the Solicitor-General of Upper Canada, to
the situation of Attorney- General in the event of Mr. Boulton
vacating that office.

It is with peculiar satisfaction that I avail myself of this
opportunity of bearing testimony to the distinguished talents
of Mr. Robinson, which were frequently displayed while he was
acting Attorney-General at the period of my administering
the government of Upper Canada, in successfully conducting a
great number of trials for high treason, as well as in frustrat-
ing several perplexing prosecutions for trespass, &c., which
were brought by some troublesome disaffected individuals
against the Government whilst exercising the powers they
were compelled to assume in defence of the province.

And I have no hesitation in saying that should the pro-
motion of this gentleman to the vacant office of Attorney-
General be deemed expedient by Earl Bathurst, he will fulfil
the duties of that appointment with no less credit to himself

vi MADE ATTORNEY-GENERAL I;IT

than advantage to the public- service. — I have the honour to
>, dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

GORDON DKCMMOND.
H. Goi LIU UN, Ks(jiiirc,

I 'luk'r-Sccrct.-iry of State for the Colonies.

The letters below are also of this period (1817-1 8).

From Sir Frederick liulnnxon l to J. B. Robinson (alluding
to h'ut Marriage).

TOBAGO, 30th August 1817.

My congratulations will come on a day after the usual
:ime, but nevertheless I will congratulate you with all my
•art, and hearty wishes for a long continuance of domestic
lappiness to you and vour wife. I wish I could witness it
personally, but I fear you will have returned to Canada long
before I shall be able to leave this for England.

Were I in any other country or climate than this, I would
ideavour to bribe you to come to me, but as it is I cannot
mture.

I will, however, tell you that there is no great improbability
of my having a situation in the land to dispose of; and, at all
events, if any young lawyer would come well introduced to me,
I would ensure him a large and rapid fortune, there being a
press of business with very high fees. It is more than probable
that you have seen my daughters Annie and Augusta 2 on their
return to England. They will give you a full account of this
island. \Ve never have a headache among us, and begin to
think people may vegetate here as well as in other countri

Pray present my most affectionate regards \\ith those of my
daughters to your wife. We do most sincerely \\i>h you every
happiness. Remember us also most kindly to the Merry s.

From Elizabeth (Mrs. William') Merry to Emma RobtMOn.

tiowr.u fan i:r. -2Wfi ^'ni-t-nihcr 1817.

MY VERY DEAR EMMA, — The view of your handwriting was

1 Then Governor

2 Annie married the Ro\ i>ivtid \\'. Wilson, but left no children ;
Augusta died unmarried in Tobago.

138 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

the most delightful sight I have beheld for a length of time.
There seemed to be no end to the week after week without a
line from you, the latest intelligence being from the Downs the
4th August.

But that is over, and your delightfully welcome packet
came to hand on the 10th, and I rejoice to hear you are happily
arrived after your dreadful voyage.

... It is well there are some few years between now and
the time you talked of again coming to England, as I fear,
with the present impression on your mind, your inclination
would not lead you to encounter again what you must have
suffered. . . .

From Sir Frederick Robinson to J. B. Robinson.

TOBAGO, 7th July 1818.

. . . We are all anxious to hear from you, and to know
the truth of the report of a young Attorney-General * having
arrived to assist you in your office.

... If this should ever reach you, pray lose no time in
giving me a particular account of yourself and family, together
with one of my quondam Government, which I am still as much
interested in as ever. Let me know what changes have taken
place and how things are going on, dwelling a little on the
settlement on the Rideau, as well as that at the head of the
Bay of Quinte.

I shall never be so interested in any Government as I was
in that of Upper Canada. There was much to be done, and
everything was interesting.

We have read a great deal in the papers about Lord
Selkirk's affair,2 which is as extraordinary a case as ever
appeared in the history of new settlers. It appears in a
different complexion, I think, to what it did when I first
heard of it.

My whole flock unite in best regards to you and yours.

1 Alludes to the birth of James Lukin Robinson, born 27th March
1818.

2 See following pages as to this.

vi LORD SELKIRK & THE N.-WEST 139

hope your wife will enter into a correspondence or rather
renew one with my daughter Maria,1 and I trust I shall soon
r from you.

For the next few years my father's work at the
and in the House of Assembly, as Attorney-
reneral, and also Member for York (now Toronto),

he became in 1821, was hard and constant.
Legal proceedings of a troublesome kind grew
it of serious disturbances which had taken place
the North- West Territory of Canada between
ic Hudson's Bay and the North - West Fur
Yading Companies in the years 1815, '16, and '17,
ie former of these having claimed the right to
irtain tracts of land and exclusive trading in them
>t admitted by the latter.

The fiscal relations also between Upper and
>wer Canada became strained, which led to my
ither being sent to England as Commissioner with
spect to them, and he was then able to complete
his terms and be called to the English Bar.

Proposals for the union of the two Canadas,
and also of all the British American Provinces,
were raised when he was in England, and he then
advocated the latter measure to the utmost of his
power.

The question of emigration to Canada was one
which much interested him ; and with respect to his
work altogether within the period between 1818 and
1823 he thus refers in his Memorandum : —

I had now some responsible and difficult duties to
discharge.

1 Afterwards Mrs. Hamilton Hamilton, married to Hamilton C. J.
Hamilton Esq., of the Diplomatic Service, and died at Brighton in 1884.

140 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Large estates had been forfeited to the Crown by the
treason of their possessors ; and many more, under a provincial
statute, by the owners abandoning the province during the
war and withdrawing to the United States. I had to frame
the statute for vesting these estates in commission, providing
for the satisfaction of all lawful claims upon them, and for the
sale of the estates and appropriation of the proceeds.

The contest between Lord Selkirk and the North- West
Company in the Hudson's Bay territory occasioned great
disturbance, many acts of violence, and some bloodshed, in
the years 1815, 1816, 1817. The offences committed there
were, under a British Act of Parliament, made triable in
Upper Canada. This threw upon me, as Attorney-General,
a responsible and arduous duty. Many indictments had been
preferred at the instance of Lord Selkirk against partners,
clerks, and servants of the North- West Company for alleged
felonies, which, under the statute I have referred to, were sent
to Upper Canada to be tried. These were disposed of at our
ordinary criminal court.

The Royal Commissioners sent into the Indian territory
had collected an immense mass of evidence, and made a report,
which furnished the foundation of my proceedings.

Lord Selkirk had been, in his youth, brought up to the
legal profession ; and he assumed very much to control the
conduct of such criminal proceedings as he desired should be
instituted on his behalf against the agents and servants of the
North- West Company. He seemed to have been, in a great
degree, permitted to do so in Lower Canada, but in Upper
Canada I declined to allow any further interference with my
discretion and duties as public prosecutor than appeared to me
to belong properly to his position as a complainant.

The North- West Company, on their part, complained of
many illegal acts committed against them, some of them of a
most extraordinary character; but they were content to leave
the method of dealing with them to the proper public autho-
rities, without attempting to dictate.

On a view of the whole immense mass of evidence, it
appeared to me to be obviously the proper course, instead of

vi LORD SELKIRK & THE X.-WEST 141

indicting, as Lord Selkirk desired me, for murder and larceny
and arson, to look upon all tliat had been done by his Lordship
and his associates, in a high-handed contest of this nature, as
so many efforts on their part to ruin their opponents, hy pos-

: ig themselves of their effects and supplanting them in their
trade. I accordingly presented an indictment of that charac-
prepared after much labour and with great care.

The efforts of his Lordship to prevent the bill being found
bv the (Irand Jury were in every point of view extraordinary,

Ewciv unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, as soon as the indictment was found, Lord
\irk, instead of remaining to abide his trial, withdrew to
Knglund, where lie addressed to the Government,' and made
in his place in Parliament, the most ungenerous complaints
against the (Government of this province, and especially the
Attorney-General, whom he charged with all kinds of injustice
oppression.

This occasioned a call from the Secretary of State upon the
Governor, Sir Peregrine Maitland, for a full report of all that

ken place in the proceedings within his Government.
It became my duty to furnish this, and I wa^ happy in
being called upon to do so. though the details filled eighty
. besides a large appendix, in which, among other things,
the whole correspondence that had taken place with Lord
Selkirk was inserted.

Not long after,1 Lord Selkirk died, one consequence of
which I could not but regret, for nothing more was ever heard
in Parliament upon the subject, and all that had been made
public was his Lordship's unfounded accusation. The state-
ments and proof's by which its injustice was exposed never went
out of the Colonial Office.

These proceedings kept me laboriously employed for many
months, and they compelled me to relinquish one of my
ordinary circuits. I confined myself to the official scale of
charge for ordinary prosecutions, according to which the

1 Lord Selkirk died at Pau, 8th April 1820, having gone there from
England in bad health.

142 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

indictment for conspiracy stood in my account charged at
which probably did not pay for the parchment on which it was
engrossed, and all that I did in the whole of these prosecutions
did not impose upon the Government any greater burthen, nor
produce to myself any greater recompense, than about =£40,
which, I think, did not reimburse what I had expended in
stationery, postage, and copying clerks. I mention this not as
giving me any ground of complaint against the Government.
If I had applied for a more adequate remuneration, it would
not have been refused, but I abstained from doing so, perhaps
foolishly.

Before passing on to other matters, I will sup-
plement my father's references to the disturbances
in the North- West Territory by a fuller explanation
of what had occurred there ; and close with a letter
he received from the Secretary of State for the
Colonies in May 1819 in connection with these
events.

The contests which took place in the years 1815,
1816, and 1817 between the rival Hudson's Bay
and North -West Companies recall the warfare
on the Scotch and English borders in the Middle
Ages.

Lord Selkirk had, in 1812, formed a settlement
at Red River, on land conveyed to him by the
Hudson's Bay Company.1

Between this Company and the North- West
Company of Montreal, there was, no doubt, inde-
pendently of any action on Lord Selkirk's part,
commercial rivalry — if not enmity.

Both Companies had arms and fortified posts, for

security against Indians and the safety of their

-

1 Consisting of large tracts over which, before his acquirement of the
land, the North- West Company had, it is stated, comparative freedom in
hunting, &c.— (See " Dictionary of National Biography"—" Selkirk.")

JL/Ul

r

vi LORD SELKIRK & THE N.-WEST

goods ; and in 1813, after war had broken out with
the United States, arms, ammunition, and a lew
light field-pieces were granted by Government to
Lord Selkirk for the defence of his settlement, which
later on joined by a body of disbanded soldiers
of the regiments of De Mcuron and \Vatteville.

The Earl of Selkirk occupied a peculiar position

the North-West Territory. His high rank, his
thority as chief of the settlement, and his status

a magistrate — enabling him to issue his own
arrants — all combined to give him an exceptional
influence and power in the country. Apparently,
the North- West Company did not so much harbour
grievances against the Hudson's Bay Company as
against him, one of the partners of the former com-
pany speaking of the committee of the latter as
being a " mere machine in the hands of Lord Sel-
kirk," whose influence was said to be a controlling
one.

The interests of bond fide agricultural settlers
would doubtless be fairly opposed in some respects
to those of a fur-trading company; and in a wild
country, such as the North-West then was, those
who, like Lord Selkirk, have authority and power
must not hesitate to put down outrages with a
strong hand ; but what the North- West Company
complained of was that Lord Selkirk's settlers and
followers were virtually traders themselves, conspir-
ing by every means to compass their ruin, and that
his authority was oppressively exercised to interested
ends.

It can be readily understood how in this situation
of affairs, bitter hostility, followed by armed conflict
and crime, soon grew up, and plunged the country

144 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

into what was little short of a state of constant war,
extending over three years.

Without entering in detail into the accusations
made on each side, it may be mentioned that the
adherents of the North- West Company charged Lord
Selkirk and his followers with, among other violent
acts, forcibly occupying their post at Fort William,
under a warrant granted by Lord Selkirk himself,
remaining in possession some months, imprisoning
their officials, and robbing them of eighty-three
muskets.

On the other hand, Lord Selkirk asserted that
the North- West Company had employed against his
settlement field-guns robbed from the stores of the
colony, been guilty of the massacre of Governor
Semple of the Hudson's Bay Company and some of
his men at Red River — who had been killed in one
of the raids which had taken place — and were bent
upon the destruction of his settlers, which rendered
this seizure of their post and of their arms justifiable.
He brought in fact charges of murder, burglary, and
arson — ah1 capital offences at that time.

At one period Lord Selkirk arrested some of the
partners of the North- West Company, sending them
down to Montreal ; and at another he refused to
submit to the execution of a legal warrant served on
himself, and imprisoned the officer serving it.

This latter act resulted in positive instructions
from the Secretary of State in England that the
Crown officers in Canada should prosecute him for
this open defiance of the law.

Eventually an indictment was preferred before a
Grand Jury at Sandwich, in the Western district,
against the Earl and others for resisting the execu-

vi LORD SELKIRK & THE N.-WEST 145

tion of u legal warrant, and other offences. The
contests had caused much excitement, and roused a
great deal of partisan feeling throughout the country.
While the charges were pending and before the jury,
efforts were made (to what my father considered a
highly reprehensible extent), by the publication of
one-sided accounts in pamphlets, &c., which were
circulated with mischievous industry, to bias public
feeling, and discredit the testimony of those who
would be witne-

In one of these, issued by Lord Selkirk's side,
appeared copies of all depositions of importance
which Lord Selkirk or other magistrates had taken
for the prosecution of various other charges, for which
men were afterwards to be tried for their li

The Judges and the Crown officers were freely
aspersed, and accused of partiality or incompetence.

After sitting for four days the jury could not
agree, and although the Bill was not thrown out, the
.Judge then decided to adjourn the Court shic die.

In October 1818 prisoners accused by Lord
Selkirk of the gravest crimes were tried at York,
and acquitted ; and in two civil actions brought
against the Earl for false imprisonment verdicts
and substantial damages were obtained by the com-
plainants.

In 1819, although a bill of indictment had not
been found at Sandwich against Lord Selkirk and
others, one was so at York ; but, as explained by my
father, owing to the withdrawal of the Earl to
England, his death, and other causes, the grounds of
the prosecution were never very thoroughly under-
stood by the general public. The accusations on
both sides which had to be investigated were

K

146 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

numerous and intricate, and their examination must
have been very tedious and difficult.

Lord Selkirk's own statement of his case is con-
tained in a letter to the Earl of Liverpool, dated
19th March 1819, and published, together with a cor-
respondence which went on between his brother-in-
law, J. Halkett, Esq., and the Colonial Office, in the
years 1817, 1818, and 1819, upon the subject of the
Red River Settlement.

Whatever may have been his responsibility for
the occurrences in the North- West Territory, he was
an active coloniser, and did much for emigration and
the settlement of Prince Edward's Island and the
North- West ; and one must sincerely regret that he
became involved in these disturbances, of which the
turmoil and worry only closed with his life.

The end of all these troubles was that, not long
after his death, the Hudson's Bay Company and the
North- West Company amalgamated.

The following letter from the Secretary of State
for the Colonies to the Lieutenant-Governor of
Upper Canada expresses the opinion of the Crown
as to the manner in which my father had dis-
charged his duty as Attorney- General in connection
with the above events : —

DOWNING STREET, llth May 1819.

SIR, — I have had the honour of receiving your despatch of
the 6th January, transmitting copies of letters addressed to
you by the Earl of Selkirk and the North- West Company.

I have not failed to lay these papers before His Royal
Highness the Prince Regent, and I should not do justice to the
Attorney-General if I were to forbear expressing the satisfac-
tion which I have derived from his detailed explanation, and
desiring you to assure him that the temper and judgment with

vr MISSION TO ENGLAND 147

which he has conducted himself during the whole of these long
and difficult proceedings have received His Royal Highness'
entire approbation. — I have the honour to be, &c.,

BATHUHM-.

J/// Father** Account continued.

In 1821, I became the representative of the town of York
in the Assembly.

The Upper Province was then in great difficulty from the
Province of Lower Canada refusing, unreasonably, to concur
in any measure, such as had been adopted by consent from
time to time, for dividing the duties levied on importations
at the Port of Quebec*.

This obstructed for several years the receipt of three-
fourths of our revenue. The political leaders in the Assembly
of Lower Canada denied our right to any share of the duties.
We were thus extremely embarrassed, owing many thousand
pounds to wounded militia pensioners, and to the wives and
children of those killed, besides other debts.

I then framed the first Act that was passed for borrowing
money upon provincial debentures, with all those provisions
necessary for guarding the public and the holders of the
securities ; and these have been followed from that time to
this — so that I had the glory of laying the foundation of our
public debt, which has grown from our modest beginning of
.£25,000 to (in 1854) the respectable amount of four millions.

In 1822 the evils arising from the detention of our revenue
by Lower Canada became intolerable, and I was appointed by
the Government, upon the joint addresses of both Houses of
the Legislature, to proceed to England as Commissioner on
behalf of the province, to procure, if possible, the interference
of Parliament for securing the just division of revenue between
Upper and Lower Canada.1

In this mission I had the good fortune to succeed, and
obtained the passing of the Statute 3 & 4 Geo. IV. ch. 119—

1 His commission to perform this duty is dated 22nd January 1822.

148 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

or rather, I mean, of that portion of it which relates to the
division of duties by arbitration, which part of the Act was
wholly framed by myself, and after examination by the Crown
officers in England, was passed without any alteration.

Both branches of the Legislature concurred in addresses of
thanks to me for the service I had rendered, and I was liberally
indemnified for my expenses and loss of time.

I here give addresses of both Houses in connec-
tion with the mission above alluded to. His selection
for so important a duty and the appreciation of the
way it had been carried out must have been gratify-
ing to him. He was then very little over thirty
years of age.

Address desiring his Appointment agreed to in January 1822.

To His Excellency Sir Peregrine Maitland, Commander of the
Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Lieutenant-
Governor of the Province of Upper Canada, and Major-
General commanding His Majesty's Forces therein, &c.

May it please your Excellency :

The Legislative Council and House of Assembly while con-
curring in a report, and in an address to our Most Gracious
Sovereign on the subject of our provincial relations with Lower
Canada, have also united in a desire that on an occasion of
such vast importance to the interests of this province some
person of talent and consideration may be appointed to lay this
address at the foot of the Throne.

The Legislative Council and House of Assembly, while
they disclaim all desire of interfering with an appointment
which, by their joint resolution, rests solely with your Excel-
lency, and repose the fullest confidence in your Excellency's
wisdom to select a person fully qualified for this important
mission, on considering the magnitude of the subject, have
agreed in opinion, from the experience of the extensive infor-

vi MISSION TO ENGLAND 149

mation of his Majesty's Attorney-General on the affairs of
this province, that the duties suggested by the report will be
fulfilled by him in the manner most conducive to the attain-
ment of the important end they have in view.

Vote of ITianks of the Legislative Council passed on his
return to Canada, 5th March 18°J5.

Resolved unanimously :

That the thanks of this House be given to JOHN BEVERLEY
ROHINSON, Esquire, for the distinguished ability, zeal, and
discretion manifested in the discharge of the important trust
confided to him as Commissioner to bear to the foot of the
Throne an humble address on the fiscal relations of this pro-
vince with Lower Canada, and in so success fully obtaining the
object of our prayer.

JOHN POWELL, C.L.C.

In forwarding this resolution to him in England,
Chief-Justice Powell added : —

You will not question how grateful to me is this consumma-
tion of my early judgment, or the sincere pleasure with which
I communicate this honourable testimony.

The House of Assembly had previously (17th
January 1823), in answer to the speech of his
Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor at the opening
of the session, expressed itself as " perfectly disposed
to concur in his Excellency's opinion as to the able
manner in which the Commissioner had conducted
the important negotiation with which he was en-
trusted."

Some friends in York were anxious also to offer a
further acknowledgment of his services in the shape
of a public testimonial in proof of their " private
attachment and public respect," but this he begged
might not be done.

150 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Account continued.

While in England on this occasion, I completed my terms
at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar there in Hilary
Term, 6th February 1823.

I was of use, at the same time, in England in various other
public matters, particularly on the question of Emigration, and
was detained by them longer than would have been necessary
by the mere business that took me over.

To mark the sense which the Government in England
entertained of the services I had rendered in all these matters,
the Under-Secretary of State informed me that an instruction
would be sent to the Colonial Government to make me a grant
of the waste lands of the Crown, which used to be ordinarily
granted to members of the Executive Council — either 6000 or
10,000 acres, as the Government might approve of.

On reflection I declined it, from an impression that, being
a member of the Legislature, it would be better for me to
accept of nothing which, from the jealousy it might create, or
on any ground, might lessen my weight in the Assembly, and
disable me from serving the Government as efficiently as I
otherwise might.

In August 1823 I returned to Canada. Before I departed
(in April 1823) I received a letter from the Under-Secretary of
State, written by desire of Lord Bathurst, informing me that
the arrangements which Lord Bathurst had in contemplation
to make at Mauritius would occasion a vacancy in the office of
Chief Judge in that colony ; that the salary attached to the
situation was ^3500 sterling a year, with an allowance at the
rate of 120 dollars per month for house rent ; that if I should
prefer the situation to that then held by me in Upper Canada,
Lord Bathurst would feel disposed to submit my name to his
Majesty for the appointment ; and that his Lordship directed
him to add that he felt much pleasure in availing himself of
that opportunity to mark his sense of the zeal and ability with
which I had discharged the duties of Attorney-General in the
Province of Upper Canada.

I was in a subsequent note informed that, according to the

vi DECLINES REWARDS 151

rule in the Southern and Eastern Colonies, I could retire if I
pleased after seven years' service, upon an allowance which was
not yet definitely fixed, but which I would be safe in assuming
would not be less than X'15()0 sterling.

I del-lined this also — not wisely, perhaps, as I have had
occasion since to feel1 — and chiefly for the reason that I
believed my services as Attorney-General and a member of
the Legislature in this large and important colony were much
more useful than they were likely to be in Mauritius. We
perhaps grow more seliish as we grow older; but I certainly
did, in those days, think more of public duty than of private
inleiv

I interrupt my father's account here by inserting
his letter to Mr. Wilmot Horton, declining this ap-
pointment : —

April Itt

MY DEAR SIR, — I beg you will assure Lord Bathurst that I
am very grateful for the communication contained in your note
of the 15th April.

Attachments of a public and private nature lead me to
prefer my present situation in Canada to one more lucrative in
another colony, in which I should probably take less interest
and might therefore be less useful; but I do not on that
account more lightly value this additional proof of his Lord-
ship's kindness and confidence, rendered the more gratifying
from the circumstances of its being unsolicited and from the
terms in which it has been conveyed.

Suffer me also to use this occasion of offering you my sincere
thanks for the kindness you have constantly shown me. . . .
— I remain, &c.

1 In saving this he no doubt refers to the reduction which subsequently
took place in the official income of the Chief Ju>tice of I "pper Canada.

a Tlu' Lnir Journal of I'pper Canada (March IMC.",) remarks as to his
having declined this appointment: — "His decision in this matter lias
shown more forcibly than any act of his life how ^reat a love he bore
to his native land, and establishes the fact that his public acts were in-
fluenced solely by motives of the purest patriotism, and not by any sordid
or seltish hope of personal advancement."

152 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Account continued.

In 1823, while I was in England, a gentleman, who had
formerly been in Canada, but was then holding an influential
position in Oxford, wrote to me that if I would come down
from London on their great occasion which was then approach-
ing, he would engage that I should receive the honorary degree
of D.C.L. ; that he had spoken of it in the necessary quarters,
and had ascertained that there would be no difficulty, the
ground on which it would be conferred being, in addition to
my official position as Attorney-General, my strenuous and
consistent support of the rights of the Church of England in
tipper Canada.

I answered that I did not feel that I had sufficient pre-
tensions to the distinction, and declined, which I have some-
times since regretted, considering my subsequent connection
with our College here.1

Among other public questions in which my father
interested himself at this time in England, he took
up very strongly that of a Legislative Union of the
whole of the British- American Colonies, urging it
upon the attention of the Colonial Office.

In 1822 a Bill had been introduced by Mr.
Wilmot 2 into Parliament for uniting the two Legis-
latures of Upper and Lower Canada together, the
other provinces not being included, but opinion was
much divided as to the advisability of the measure,
and it fell through.

Writing in his diary on 5th January 1823, my
father says : —

Spoke (to Mr. Wilmot) upon a design of uniting all the

1 As Chancellor of Trinity College University, Toronto. Not long
after the above was written, and when on a visit to England in 1855, the
honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him at Oxford.

2 Afterwards Sir Wilmot Horton, Under-Secretory of State for the
Colonies at this time. He was Governor of Ceylon 1831-37, and took an
active interest in all Colonial and emigration questions. He died 1841.

vi UNION OF N. A. PROVINCES 153

North-American Colonies, and I am to write remarks on the
subject, having several times pressed it upon his consideration.
My plan would go further than the suggestions I have seen,
and would make the Colonies effectually an integral part of the
Empire if adopted.

The " remarks " alluded to above were embodied
in a letter addressed to Lord Bathurst, Secretary
of State for the Colonies, and afterwards published
in pamphlet form 1 in London, under the title of
** Plan for a general Legislative Union of the British
Provinces in North America," accompanied by ex-
tracts from a paper on the subject written in 1807
by Chief-Justice Scwell.

In this pamphlet my father, speaking of the feel-
ing of the English population throughout the Canadas
with respect to the union of the two Canadas only,
without the other provinces, says : —

Many of them regard the union as a measure of doubtful
tendency, and are really unable to come to a decided opinion as
to the preponderance of good or evil likely to result from it.
Of these some think the experiment may be made with safety;
others are apprehensive that it may produce much mischief
and inconvenience; and, though they are not convinced that
the union might not, on the whole, and in the end, be beneficial,
they are so much in doubt about it, that they would rather
not run the hazard of disturbing the present state of things.

But there is a remedy within the power of Parliament
for all these perplexities. The measure alluded to is the
uniting the British North American Provinces into one grand
Confederacy.

He then gives the details of his plan, with the
number of members to compose the Legislative

1 Dr. Strachan also published a pamphlet in 18:2-, urpnjr a union of all
the British-American Colonies, in lieu of the proposed limited union of
the two Canadas.

154 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Council to be delegated from each province, &c., to
the "New Albion" or "British North America,"
and continues : —

The actual consolidation of the British Empire would be at
least a grand measure of national policy. To recapitulate, it
is believed that to unite the British North American Provinces
by giving them a common legislature and erecting them into a
kingdom, would be gratifying to all those Colonies — it would
put an end to all danger and inconveniences from petty factions
and local discontents, and secure the public counsels of all the
Colonies from foreign influence.

But the Government in England were not dis-
posed to take up the matter of the more extended
Union, and rightly or wrongly considered that, so
far from the measure advocated being one which
would be gratifying to all the Colonies (as my father
then believed it would, if properly brought before
them), the proposal would not be entertained by
them.

This view may have been right — though that is
uncertain — and without doubt no scheme of union
or federation can be pressed to advantage upon in-
different or reluctant provinces.

The subject was in any case dropped for the time,
though my father (see next chapter) returned to it
again the following year, and once more without
success.

Looking back now to this period it seems at
least to be regretted that this union was not
more favourably entertained and actively pressed
during the years between 1822 and 1830, when the
feeling between Lower and Upper Canada — the one
province chiefly French and the other British — had

vi UNION OF N. A. PROVINCES 1.55

not assumed the character which, under pressure of
political influences, it did later on.

It seems possihle that could such a union of all
the British-American Provinces have been carried
at this time, the Rebellion, which delayed it for
many years (as after this the maritime provinces
were less disposed to join the Canadas), might not
have occurred, and political changes, becoming in-
evitable, might have been introduced into Canada,
as they were in England, it' not without contention,
at all events without bloodshed.

Mr. Dent, writing of the union of Upper with
Lower Canada which took place under the Union
Hill of 1840, ' and alluding to my father's opposition
to it, says :—

Mr. Robinson had sixteen years before been an advocate of
such a union as he now opposed, but had subsequently seen
reason for changing his views.

This arises no doubt from a misapprehension of
what my father did advocate. What he urged in
1822 and again in 1824-25 (see next chapter) was
not such a union as took place in 1840 (i.e. of Upper
and Lower Canada only), but a union of all the
British North American Provinces, which became a
recognised necessity in 1867, after the former measure
had led to a political i

On this visit to England in 1822-23, my father
was accompanied by my mother and eldest sister,
then a child, his two boys being left in Canada, but
of these years and 1825 (when he was again in

1 " Canada since the Union of 1841," by John Charles Dent.

156 SIR JOHN BEVEKLEY ROBINSON CH.

England) comparatively few references to occupations
and interests other than those of a public character
have been preserved.

Writing to Sir Peregrine Maitland, 16th July
1822, he thanks him for some letters of introduction,
and thus alludes to his first meeting with Serjeant
Copley (afterwards Lord Lyndhurst) and with the
Duke of Wellington, whom he met frequently in
subsequent years :—

I am much indebted to you for your kind letter of
20th April. Sir William Robinson had before introduced me
to Serjeant Copley, and I had the pleasure of meeting at his
house a few weeks ago some of your nephews and nieces, who
had, of course, many questions to ask about Canada.1

From Earl Bathurst, in the intercourse I have had with
him, I have experienced the greatest kindness. He and the
Countess invited us to dinner, and it was no small gratification
to me to meet there the Duke of Wellington, Lord Liverpool,
the Duchess of Richmond, and others.

At this time Dr. Strachan again strongly
pressed upon my father the advantages which, in
his opinion, would attend his remaining altogether
in England and entering into professional and
parliamentary life there ; and the question of his
doing so was more than once the subject of dis-
cussion and correspondence with Sir Wilmot Horton
and others.

But there were difficulties in the way. He had
now a family2 growing up around him, and the
change must have been, in any case, one from a
comparative certainty to an uncertainty.

1 This interest arose from Sir Peregrine Maitland,, Lieutenant-Governor
of Upper Canada, 1820-28, having married Lady Sarah Lennox, daughter
of the Duke of Richmond who had been Governor-General of Canada,
1818-19.

a For particulars as to his children, see Appendix B., V7.

•

CAREER IN ENGLAND ADVISED ir>7

*

These and other considerations, among which it
may be truly said was his affection for Canada, led

liis never acting on their advice.

One of Dr. Strachan's letters to him on this
subject is of more than usual interest, and I now
give some extracts from it : —

From Dr. Stracltan.

YORK, WthJnne IH'JJ.

MY DKAR JOHN, — I was much gratified by your letter of the
llth April to invsi-lf. You will he able to reward the pro-
vince for the confidence it has reposed in you, and acquit your-
If in a manner creditable to yourself and satisfactory to your
oelings. I need not trouble you with any re-marks on the two
important general Bills you mention. To the first, regarding
the West Indies, there may be some objections offered of a
very weighty nature, but I presume that the fear of the total
ruin of our sugar islands compels Government to throw their
ports open to the Americans. I hope the Colonial ships will
be allowed to trade from island to island and from colony to
colony, while the Americans are forced to clear from a port in
their own country to one of ours and straight back. I am
aware that all restrictions whatever are condemned by Dr.
Smith and his disciples, but it is inv decided opinion that till
all nations throw aside the shackles of commerce we cannot
afford to make ours entirely free.1

I was much pleased to find that you have been so much
consulted upon this change of policy; but especially upon the
Canada Hill, for the draft of which we are exceedingly anxious.
I am also glad that you are to draw it up. Here appears the
advantage of having you at home. Mr. Caldwell and the
Solicitor-General of Lower Canada will perceive that you are
solicitous for the interests of both provinces, and desire only
such provisions in the proposed laws as cannot be justly found
fault with. I trust and hope that nothing will happen to

1 It is curious that now, eighty years after the above wonN \voro
written, the question of whether free trade, or only partial free trade
would he the best in the interests of the Empire, should be attracting
such serious attention.

158 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

thwart or impede the progress of the Bills in their passage
through Parliament. I participate most sincerely in the
anxiety you must feel upon this occasion, and I most fervently
pray that the prosperity hitherto vouchsafed you by a kind
Providence may always continue.

As anything I could say respecting your public measures
would be now too late to answer any purpose, I will revert to
your own affairs. I am against your returning before you are
admitted to the Bar.

... I thought it better to stop here and to talk to Hillier *
on the subject. He says the General thinks of a middle
course — that you leave Mrs. Robinson in England, come out
to attend the session of Parliament, with your documents, &c.,
and deliver them yourself, and explain what you have effected.
After the close of the session you may return to England and
remain as long as you think fit. I must admit that some very
considerable advantages attend this plan. You anticipate very
truly that I will speak of your remaining in England though I
first bring you back to Canada. As Attorney-General here,
you will have for many years to come the whole weight of
public business on your shoulders. You will have all the
Bills to draw ; your best motives will be questioned and belied,
your words and expressions twisted, your conduct slandered,
and all this without any redeeming advantage. After many
years of painful, thankless labour, and perhaps many difficulties
and mortifications from changes in our administration, new
Governors, &c., you may be promoted to the office of Chief
Justice. This is, however, by no means certain, for by a
change in the Ministry, you may suffer the mortification of
having a person set over your head. But we will suppose no
such disappointment, and that you are Chief. You have then
our House to keep in order,2 and to maintain peace between us
and the Assembly.

I am willing to allow that this prospect was once a fair

1 Colonel Hillier was private secretary to General Sir Peregrine Mait-
land, the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada.

2 The Chief Justice of Upper Canada was at this time ex qfficio Speaker
of the Legislative Council.

vi CAREER IN ENGLAND ADVISED 1/59

fi

:

object of ambition, but tilings are now changed, and an
opportunity presents itself to you of acting on a more brilliant
field. Turn we then to England.

You :nv there on a vast theatre. You get admittance to
the Bar; a single cause of general interest and importan.

11 you want to place you in that rank which would enable you
to command everything reasonable; and a short time at the
Bar will open for you the doors of the House of Commons,
where your talents will be duly appreciated. Your entrance
into the House will be attended by situations of confu!
.nd emolument, and you will be able in a short time to do
more tor your family and friends than you can ever do in
Canada; and all this with less trouble — infinitely less — than
YOU will have to surmount here. I have myself some ambition
to be known as the tutor of a second Pitt, for I really think
that you possess more real knowledge than he did when he
hi'gdn his political career. You know more of men and
manners, of the different views and interests of the various
divisions of the Empire, have greater insight into human
nature, and greater strength and industry to second the con-
ceptions of your mind.1 I am perfectly persuaded that you
will be found equal to your situation, and that your talents
will expand with your calls for their exertion. In saving all
this you will not suspect me of flattery, for I am not given to
that vice at any time. I may indeed be mistaken, and may
value your talents higher than I ought from partial affection,
but you will, I am sure, admit that I am not often mistaken in
reading character, and that I judge, in most cases, correctly of
men. In your case my opinion is not so much founded on
personal attainments, great as they are, as on your capacity
and industry and energy, which, rising from a good foundation,
qualify you to meet every emergency.

You may, in power, do infinite good to the British Empire,
for I could show you that many of the difficulties with which

1 Though the expressions here used may appear exaggerated, I do not
omit them, as they show the opinion which Dr. Strachan, his old master,
had now formed of my father's capacity for public affairs.

160 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

she is embarrassed arise from the ignorance of men in power —
not a culpable ignorance, but from their want of a species of
knowledge which they have had no opportunity of acquiring.

By returning to this country, you will encounter all the
evils of a public life without any of its sweets. In England
you will meet fewer evils, and they will be redeemed by many
advantages. I might fill my letter with this subject, as it is
near my heart, and you will easily believe, not without a severe
contention, for I have many cogent reasons for wishing you to
remain here. However, weigh the matter well before you
decide. As to means, I will charge myself, pinched as I am,
with a thousand or fifteen hundred pounds, to be repaid at
your leisure if you succeed, and never if you fail. The truth
is, I am so convinced that you will succeed, that I am ready
to go all lengths to keep you perfectly comfortable in the
meantime.

My father left England to return to Canada in
June 1823, reaching Toronto via New York, Albany,
and Niagara on the 9th July. He writes as to his
journey : —

The first part of our voyage was tedious, the winds being
constantly adverse, but the last half of the way we had better
fortune. The weather was exceedingly pleasant the whole
way. We reached New York on the 19th June, having been
thirty-two days out.

On the Tuesday following, we continued our route to Albany
by steamboat, and from thence travelled in a hired coach —
or hack as they call it — by easy journeys of thirty-five miles
a day to Lewistown (having sent our baggage by the canal
to Rochester), and from thence in the American steamboat
to Niagara. I found Sir Peregrine at Stamford, and we spent
two days there, and then came by the Frontenac here, where we
landed on Wednesday, the 9th instant, and found all our
children and friends in as good health as we left them. I rode
out the same evening to Newmarket with Charles Heward.

CHAPTER VII

AT THE BAR AND IN THE HOUSE OF

ASSEMBLY (Continued)

1824-28

Renews advocacy of a Union of the British North American Provinces :

his view*; on this suKjeet and tin- position of ( 'anada with regard to
Knirland and the I'nited States IVter Kohin-on and the Irish
emigrants: their excellent conduct in I.".:1.? (Joes to Kn^land in
connection with proposal sale of the Clertry Re-en es to the Canada
Company; success on this occasion -The question of the Clergy
Reserves Let (eras to his presentation of site tor a Methodi-t church
— Religious Denominations Bill— His Parliamentary lite- -Mr. Bid-
well — The Alien Bills The Family Compart 1'ro-f-ut ion* for lihel
— Employment out of Canada su^e-ted Declines ( 'hief-.fustice-hip
of Upper Can;. da - His iva-oiis Subsequently accepts the po>t—
Vacates seat in Hou-e of Assembly-- Presentation of plate by
elector*; of York — His view of Parliamentary representation — Law
Journal as to him.

IN the year 1824 my father became aware that the
expediency of uniting the provinces of Upper and
Lower Canada was again to be brought before
Ministers in England during the recess of Parlia-
ment. It was believed also that, at the same time,
the question of a general union of the British North
American Colonies, i.e. the provinces of Lower and
Upper Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia,
might receive consideration, so he again returned to
this latter subject in a letter to Lord Bathurst, dated
York, Upper Canada, December 2(>, 1S'J4.

This letter was afterwards published in London
(in 1825) in pamphlet form, under the title, "A letter
to the Right Honourable Earl Bathurst, K.G., on

161 L

162 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

the Policy of uniting the British North American
Colonies."

In this letter he writes : —

It is the fear of perpetual strife from the unavoidable
inconvenience of having the parties of French and English,
Catholic and Protestant, so nearly balanced, that disposes me
most to doubt the policy of uniting the provinces of Canada l
at this period.

My conviction is that there is a remedy 2 more certain to be
effectual and in every way more expedient.

I know not in what light the design of a general union of
the British North American Colonies may have appeared to
his Majesty's Government, if it has been submitted to con-
sideration, as I learn it was to have been.

So far from looking on this plan with any of the prejudices
or wishes of a friend or an enemy of the union of the Canadas,
it is not as a Canadian that I am impressed with a conviction
of its importance, arid entreat for it the attention of his
Majesty"^ Government. It is as a British subject that I feel an
interest and an anxiety that may appear to approach too
nearly to enthusiasm, when I anticipate its probable effects.

And he writes to his brother Peter in this year

(1824) :—

If they would but adopt my favourite plan of giving an
United Legislature to the four Colonies, and leave the local
Legislatures for unimportant purposes to each, every end might
be attained."

Those who then opposed the union of the British
American Provinces, did so chiefly on the following
grounds : —

That these provinces neither wished for it, nor
were ripe for it ; that the scheme was, in short, pre-

1 i.e. the provinces of Canada only, and not the whole of the British
North American Colonies.

2 i.e. for the evils existing in Lower Canada.

vii URGES CONFEDERATION 103

mature, and put forward merely to divert attention
from the pressing need of the union of the two
Canadas alone. That Mr. Sewell's proposals of 1807
were but a revival with modifications of a plan
framed by Dr. Franklin in 1754 for the union of the
old British Colonies (which subsequently became the
United States) and were never viewed as expedient,
or adopted. Finally, that such a union would hasten
the day when these provinces would desire to become
independent, and dissolve their connection with the
mother country, and was not therefore to be encour-
aged from an imperial point of view.

I now give some extracts from my father's pam-
phlet mentioned above, in which he refers to and
replies to these objections, especially as these extracts
allude to the origin of the great scheme for the Con-
federation of the North American Colonies into one
Dominion, which was happily carried out many years
afterwards (in 1867) when the relations between Upper
and Lower Canada had become such as to make it
imperative. They also show his views as to the
improbability of these Colonies ever desiring to sever
their connection with the mother country, and as to
their position with respect to the United States of
America.

Answering the objections urged, he says : —

In the actual state of these provinces there are strong con-
curring inducements1 to select the present time for commencing
the great system of policy to which I could wish some voice of
greater influence were raised to call your Lordship's attention.
Your Lordship will not fail to perceive how strong the motive
is with one who sincerely believes in the expediency of the

1 These inducements are set out in the letter, but cannot be con-
veniently given in the space of this Memoir.

164 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

system recommended, to desire that its immediate adoption
should take the place of a very questionable and much less
effectual measure of policy. . . .

It is, I trust, scarcely probable that your Lordship's atten-
tion has been diverted from it in any degree by an idea that I
see the anxious petitioners for the partial union have been
most studious to inculcate; viz. that it is thrown out merely
to draw your Lordship's attention from the other measure, and
without any expectation that it would be adopted.

The best answer to such a surmise is that Mr. SewelPs
paper in its present shape was offered for consideration some
years before any intention had been expressed of uniting the
provinces of Canada ; and that the paper on the same subject
which was submitted by myself, was not otherwise offered than
in compliance with the desire of Mr. Wilmot Horton that I
should consider Mr. SewelPs project and reduce to writing for
his perusal whatever occurred to me respecting it.

I wrote it with too ardent a hope that its statements might
attract attention, and with too earnest a conviction of their
truth, not to be desirous that it should again meet your
Lordship's perusal while circumstances concur to call your
attention so particularly to the political condition of these
Colonies.

The people of these Colonies have expressed no opinion on
the subject,1 because it has in no shape been offered to their
consideration, nor in any manner discussed or pointed out in
the provinces, but it is a most reasonable expectation that a
system so evidently tending to increase their respectability,
and attended with no sacrifice of local advantage or con-
venience, would, if offered to their consideration, be most
favourably regarded.

With respect to the imputation of private interests ', by
which it has been attempted to create prejudice against the
suggestions of a general union, your Lordship, I am sure, will
feel that the character of the individual to whom it is

1 i.e. the subject of the general union of all the Colonies, rather than
a union of the two Canadas alone.

vii URGES CONFEDERATION 105

intended such an observation should apply can alone deter-
mine its justice.

The plan submitted by me was certainly suggested without
the slightest consideration of any other scheme than Mr.
SewelFs. The objection, however (if it was meant as an
objection), gives rise to one or two considerations which I
cannot forbear to state. The plan of 1754 did not originate
with Dr. Franklin, though it was commented upon by him.
It was drawn up and offered to the consideration of the King's
Ministers by Governor Hutchinson, whose preference of British
to Colonial interests was unfortunately somewhat too in-
cautiously displayed on all occasions, and whose zeal for the
integrity of the Empire was not likely to have suffered him
to be the proposer of a measure which would tend to dis-
solve the connection between the mother country and her
Colonies.

It is true that a plan was pressed upon the British Govern-
ment in the year 1754 for uniting the Colonies in America
(now the United States) ; and equally true — whether it was the
plan of Mr. Hutchinson or Dr. Franklin — that it was not
adopted.

. . . The event may offer no useless lesson. Remaining
separate Governments with separate Legislatures ; with no
legitimate bond of union involving an acknowledged responsi-
bility, with no occasional constitutional interchange of opinion
and no common medium of communication with the parent
State ; with no direct representations in the Councils of the
Empire, these Colonies rebelled, and after an obstinate struggle,
which added more than one hundred millions to the National
Debt, they were lost to the Empire.

It is at least plain that as the consequences could not have
been more unfortunate, the rejection of Mr. Hutchinson's plan
can afford no possible ground for congratulation.

Then, speaking of the idea (very prevalent in
England), that to hasten the development and pro-
gress of the British- American Colonies, was but to
hasten the time when they, like the older Colonies

166 SIR JOHN BEVEKLEY ROBINSON CH.

now forming the United States, would throw off
their allegiance to the mother country, he adds : —

An erroneous idea of the extent and capability of Canada,
and a disregard of its geographical position, can alone have
occasioned such an impression.

Provinces, however extensive, which are kept in check on
one side by a foreign nation that must ever exceed them in
power, and which can communicate with other countries only
by one narrow channel, which is closed by ice for nearly half
the year, can have no imaginable temptation to cast themselves
loose from an Empire which supplies the security they want.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, exposed on all their coasts to
the navies of Great Britain, can never rise to sufficient power
or importance to admit of their aspiring to be independent
States. There is as little ground to imagine that they would
ever desire to become subject to the Government of the United
States. The disposition of their people is at present most
decidedly adverse to the American Republic.

A view of the map of America will show that a junction of
physical force for any bad purpose is out of the question, and
the union would therefore confer the security of a Legislature
composed of persons of different tempers and politics, without
bringing with it the risk of any combination hostile to the
Empire.

That a kingdom so situated would in time form a powerful
check to the United States of America cannot be doubted.

It ought to be borne in mind that, as an independent
nation, the United States have hitherto justified no expectation
of a kindlier feeling towards our country than may be looked
for from other foreign Powers. On the contrary, at a moment
when the best interests of the civilised world depended on the
unequal contest in which Great Britain was engaged, the
United States joined the number of her enemies, in the con-
fident assurance that she must sink under the pressure.1
Happily, these efforts failed, and there appears no reason,

1 It must be remembered tbat these words were written only nine
years after the termination of the War of 1812-15.

vii URGES CONFEDERATION l<>7

:

cc

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la

.

in the present state of tilings, to apprehend their being soon

aewed.

On the contrary, the most amicable relations seem to be
maintained, with equal sincerity, by the Governments of both
countries.

It has certainly been for many years the disposition of

rcat Britain to avoid all cause of dissension with the United

tales of America. If indeed an alliance so natural could be
firmly and lastingly cemented, it would be happy for the
interests of mankind; it would create a power which, while
it would be competent to repress the designs of destructive
ambition, would itself threaten no ill to the repose or the
freedom of the world.

Before I leave this subject, I will remark that if the
provinces of Canada only should be united, as it is proposed,
the preponderance of one over the other in the joint Legis-

ture, unjustly made use of, might possibly occasion so >trong
a dissatisfaction as to suggest a union with the neighbouring
States as an escape from a greater evil.

But (he continues) I am not one of those who accede
readily to any argument of this nature, because I do not admit
the probability of such a result.

\Yhile in England, he actively interested himself
various other public questions concerning Canada,
in addition to that which formed the special object of
his mission, and was constantly in communication
with those holding political and legal posts in the
Government, meeting frequently with Mr. Wilmot
(afterwards Sir Wilmot Horton) both privately and
at the Colonial Office.

Among the matters to which he gave much
attention was that of emigration to Canada, which
his brother Peter l also had warmly taken up. The
latter superintended the emigration of a large body

1 IVter Robinson had much to do with the settlement of Peterborough
in Upper Canada, which was named after him. (See chap. xi.).

168 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of Irish emigrants to Canada and their settlement
there about this period. In 1824 he writes to my
father :-

19 BUBY STREET, LONDON,
20th September 1824.

DEAR JOHN, — I have just returned from Ireland, where I
have been busily employed for the last six weeks making a
selection of about 1000 persons to be sent out early in April.
Everywhere I was received in the kindest manner possible, and
the friends of the people I took out last year were very warm
in their expressions of gratitude. Lord Kingston sends about
400 persons from his estate — he was civil in the extreme, and I
breakfasted and dined daily with him during my stay in his
neighbourhood.

I spent a week with Lord Ennismore's family near Listowel,
at the seat of the Knight of Kerry, very pleasantly. From
thence I went to Killarney, and had the luck to be in time for a
famous stag-hunt, a treat that brings people from all quarters
for a long distance. . . . — Your affectionate brother,

P. ROBINSON.

That these emigrants appreciated the interest he
took in them is shown by this warm expression of it
in an address to Lord Bathurst in 1826 : —

We take this opportunity of expressing to your Lordship
how much of gratitude we owe to the Honourable Peter
Robinson, our leader, our adviser, our friend, since we have
been under his direction, and particularly for his exertions in
administering to our comforts during a season of sickness and
privation.

We have reason to be thankful for the wisdom and discre-
tion which appointed over us so honourable, kind, and inde-
fatigable a superintendent, who has used every exertion and
care in providing for our every want.

We trust that our orderly conduct as members of society,
and steady loyalty as subjects of the British Crown, will evince
the gratitude we feel for the many favours we have received.

MI THE IRISH EMIGRANTS 169

It may be mentioned here that Mr. William
Lyon Mackenzie, who subsequently headed the
Rebellion in Upper Canada, spoke thus of these
emigrants in the Colonial Advocate of 8th December
1825 :-

Mr. Robinson's Irish Settlers.

To how much more useful a purpose might o{?30,000 have
been expended than in recruiting in Ireland for the United
States,

leaning apparently that these Irishmen would not
remain contented settlers under the British Govern-
ment, but would soon, either voluntarily or from
political changes, come under the United States
flag.

Events did not bear out this anticipation. At
first there was some difficulty between them and
other settlers, but this soon passed away, and Sir
Francis Head, Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada,
writing to Sir Wilmot Horton on 21st May 1838,

LUS refers to the loyal and active support which,
in the Rebellion twelve years later, they gave to the
Government :—

These settlers were among those who at once marched
(during the Rebellion) from the Newcastle district in the
depths of winter, nearly one hundred miles, to support the
Government.

On finding a bodv of the Honourable Peter Robinson's
settlers, self assembled in line before Government House, I went
out and thanked them, to which they replied that they were
doing well in the world, that they felt grateful to the Govern-
ment, and had come to fight for the British Constitution.

170 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

And he writes in " The Emigrant " 1 that, when
he told them they would immediately receive
muskets and ammunition, a voice from the ranks
exclaimed in a broad Irish brogue, " If your Honour
will but give us arms, the rebels will find the
legs ! "

My father also, in alluding to their services,
writes to Sir Wilmot Horton : 2-

I am glad that it occurred to you to inquire of Sir Francis
Head what had been the conduct of the Irish settlers during
the late unhappy tumults in Upper Canada. There was some-
thing remarkable and most honourable in the whole bearing of
the Irish population throughout these troubles. There were
numerous examples of men of every origin — English, Scotch,
and natives of the province, and some who had come from the
United States of America — doing everything that could be
done by them in defence of their country ; but I think it was
universally felt throughout the province that the conduct of
the Irish, as a body, was pre-eminently good.

They seemed not only to acknowledge promptly their
obligation to support their Government and the laws, but
they discharged their duty with an eager forwardness, and a
fine hearty warmth of feeling that it was really quite affecting
to witness.

It did honour to Ireland, and it showed that whatever may
be the vices and errors of the Irish peasantry, hatred to their
Sovereign and ingratitude to their Government are not among
the number.

You may safely entertain the persuasion that there is no
one public object which the people of Upper Canada and the
Legislature feel a stronger desire to promote than an extensive

1 " The Emigrant," by Sir Francis B. Head (1846).

2 From a pamphlet by Sir Wilmot Horton, containing his correspond-
ence with my father upon the subject of a pamphlet entitled " Ireland
and Canada/' published 1839.

r

VII

THE CLERGY RESERVES 171

emigration from the mother country. It adds at once to the
value of property in the province, furnishes employment to

mechanics, provides labourers for the farmers, and infuses life
and activity into every department.

In the spring of 1825 the question of the " Clergy
Reserves " and their disposal, which was for a long
time a burning one in Upper Canada, took my father
nee more to England.

Into its nature I will enter a little further on,
first quoting here what he himself says as to the
period 1825-27. On this visit to England, he left
my mother and the children in Toronto, and was
away only a short time.

In 1825 I went again to England to represent to the
Government the ruinous sacrifice which would be made of the
provision for the support of a Protestant clergy in Upper
Canada, if the sale which the British Government proposed to
make of the Clergy Reserves to the Canada Company should he
allowed to go into effect.

The Commissioners appointed to fix the price had made so
ow an estimate of the value of all these reserves scattered
through the several townships, that upon the terms agreed
upon of paying for them in fifteen annual instalments, without
interest, the price per acre would be about 2s. Id. I insi>tcd
upon it, and offered to demonstrate before any tribunal, that
this could not be just, and could not be warranted by any
evidence which the Commissioners had received.

The Secretary of State considered that he could not, in the
face of such a statement, allow the sale to be completed as far
as regarded the Clergy Reserves without an investigation ; and
I was accordingly called upon to support my account of the
matter.

A Master in Chancery, Sir Griffin Wilson, was appointed
to hear the Commissioners, who were all then in London, on

172 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

the one side, and me on the other, and to make his report. I
asked for and obtained the mass of evidence on which the Com-
missioners had professed to found their report, and I proved,
by a minute dissection of it, that it led immediately to the
conclusion that the reserves were worth upon an average 7s. per
acre.

Sir Griffin Wilson determined the controversy wholly in
my favour, and reported to the Government that they could
not, in justice to the claimants upon the Clergy Reserve Fund,
suffer the sale to be perfected. The consequence was that all
the Clergy Reserves were withdrawn from the sale, and the
Canada Company received in lieu of them an equal or perhaps
greater quantity of land in the Huron tract, a beneficial
exchange for the country, and I believe also for the Company.
What has since occurred has put it beyond doubt that I was
much within the mark in the value which I placed upon the
Clergy Reserves.

I thought, at the time, that this was one of the most useful
acts of public service that I had had it in my power to perform ;
but subsequent political measures and movements have much
diminished its importance, and even threaten a total destruc-
tion of the Clergy Fund, which I perhaps saved on that
occasion to very little purpose.

Writing from London to Dr. Strachan on 6th
July 1825, just before his return to Canada, and
alluding to the proposed sale of the Clergy Reserve
lands to the Canada Company, he says :—

The Government acceded to my proposition of assigning to
the Church such a portion of the new purchase as might be
deemed equivalent to the 800,000 acres of Clergy Reserves.

Mr. Horton has taken the alarm even at this late stage,
and written a letter to the Commissioners on the part of the
Government which must draw from them a contradiction or
confirmation of my view of the matter. Mr. Horton declares
if what I say is right the Government must reverse the whole
thing and have another valuation made. I left him full of it.

VII

THE CLERGY RESERVES 173

If Harvey supports me, Lord Rithurst and Mr. Ilorton will
not incur the odium of completing such a bargain.

My great satisfaction is that my opinion is re-corded, and its
correctness can be verified and soon will be. Just now the

f)cess is fermenting. It is clear to me that the Government
1 that they have done a most unwise thing, and they feel
o that they can take no step without incurring the reproach
extreme improvidence in their former arrangements.
I

Later on (29th January 1827) he writes thus
*om Canada to Dr. Strachan, who was then in
England,1 upon the subject of these Reserves :—

E

Sill

E

The matter more important than everything else put
together is the new mode of attack upon the Church.2 . . .

In England where the clergy are supported by tithes,
hich persons of all sects have to pay, and in Ireland, win-re
tithes are collected from the great mass of a people detesting
e Church which they support, it is no wonder that the Est ib-
ishment is in some quarters the subject of complaint ; but
surely no man but a modern philosopher would for a moment
ntend that in England and Scotland the moral state of

iety is not to be mainly attributed to their national churches
which, supported as they are, ensure the blessings of religious
instruction to all classes.

Here, the people of Upper Canada inhabit a country con-
quered by the blood and treasure of England. The dominion
of the soil was in the Crown by conquest. With a foresight
most happily provident, one-seventh of that land, which was
wholly at the King's disposal, was reserved to form a support
for a clergy to dispense religious instruction among the people,
and to minister to the holy services of our Church.

Was this more than a wise and reasonable measure towards

1 For the purpose of obtaining a Charter for the University of King's
College, Toronto.

3 The proposal to sell the Reserves and apply the proceeds to purposes
of education.

174 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

advancing the future happiness of those who were yet to
become inhabitants of this province, and did not all come here
with the knowledge that provision was made for supporting the
national Church ?

Let it but be confirmed and placed beyond the hope of
envy and the reach of malice, and, before fifty years elapse,
the Church will want no better defenders than the representa-
tives of the people.

Your university will aid us. I write this in extreme haste
and must draw to a conclusion, but how gladly would I plead
the cause of the Church against the attacks of those who rail
at her.

You must by this time have your university charter, on
which I heartily congratulate you and myself, for my two boys
are ripening for it. To have achieved this measure will be a
lasting and unspeakable pleasure to you, and confer the greatest
honour on your memory when generations have passed away.
I cannot conceive what other service so valuable it can ever be
in the power of an individual to make to Upper Canada.

In connection with this question of the Clergy
Reserves and their secularisation, which was sub-
sequently carried into effect, 1 must explain that in
the year 1791, when Upper Canada, of which the
population was mainly Protestant, was first made
into a separate province, a British statute was
passed (31 George III., ch. 31) for the special
purpose of making provision for the support of a
Protestant clergy in the Canadas, as had already
been secured to the Roman Catholic clergy in the
old Province of Quebec by the Treaty preceding
the surrender of Canada in 1759, and by Act of the
British Parliament in 1774.

In the provisions of this statute, it was declared
to be its object "to make a permanent appropriation
of lands in the said Provinces for the support and

vii THE CLERGY RESERVES 175

maintenance of a Protestant Clergy," and it was
directed that "for the purpose of more effectually
fulfilling his Majesty's intentions in this respect and
of providing for the due execution of the same in all
time to come," certain allotments of the Crown lands
in Canada were to be made, and secured in the
future. It was further laid down that the profits
arising from such lands should "be applicable solely
to the maintenance and support of a Protestant
Clergy within the Province in which the same shall
be situated, and to no other use or purpose whatever."

Authority was also given to " constitute and
erect within every township or parish one or more
parsonage or rectory, or parsonages or rectories,
according to the Establishment of the Church of
England," and endow them with a portion of such
otted lands.

Power to vary or repeal the provisions of the Act
was vested in the Canadian Legislature, subject to
the approval of the Imperial Parliament and the
Crown.

At the time this Act was passed, the Protestant
denominations not in communion with the Church
of England formed a comparatively small body, and
the opinion held by Anglican Churchmen that the
intention of the Act was solely to provide for the
clergy of that Church has this in support of it, that
for some thirty years after the passing of the Act, no
attempt whatever was made to call in question the
exclusive right of the Church of England to the
" Clergy Reserves." The Church of Scotland then
put in a claim to a share of them, which was eventu-
ally conceded to it, as being both a Protestant and
an established Church.

-

176 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

This was soon succeeded by claims from various
denominations of dissenting but Protestant bodies,
who were becoming more numerous in Canada.

In November 1819, the law officers of the Crown
in England delivered the opinion that the provisions
of the Act did not extend to other Protestant bodies
than the Churches of England and Scotland, " since
the terms ' Protestant Clergy ' can apply only to the
Protestant Clergy recognised and established by
law." . . . The question was not, however, brought
to any decision in Parliament, and the claims of the
various Protestant denominations to participate in
the Reserves continued to be persistently pressed.

In 1831 a Bill passed the House of Assembly
that these Reserves might be devoted to purposes of
education, but was unanimously rejected by the
Legislative Council, who addressed the King, pray-
ing him and the Imperial Parliament to preserve to
Upper Canada this permanent provision for the
support of public worship.

In this address, signed by my father as Speaker
of the Council, the following paragraphs occur : —

We observe with great concern the efforts which are being
made in this colony to inculcate the opinion that it is an
infringement of liberty to make provision for the support of
the Christian religion by maintaining some form of public
worship, even though such a provision should be made (as in
this province it has been made) without imposing a burthen
upon any class of the people, and without subjecting to any
civil disability those persons who profess a different faith.

As one of the branches of the Legislature of this colony,
we feel it to be our duty to declare our dissent from such a
position, as being directly repugnant to principles which have
been long and firmly established in every part of the British
Empire, and expressly at variance with the original constitution

in

•

vii THE CLERGY RESERVES 177

of this province, and with the sacred pledge given by your
Majesty's late royal father, when Canada became a British
province.

. . . Concurring in the recommendation of his Majesty,

the Parliament of Great Britain, by the statute 31 George III.
eh. J)l, made a provision for the support of a Protestant clergy
in this province, in the terms of the royal message, and
secured it bv enactments so direct and positive, and so par-
ticular in their details, that there can be no part of the British
Empire in which a public provision for the maintenance of reli-
gion stands on plainer ground than in the provinces of Canada.

In the end (in 1840) the contention as to the
Clergy Reserves,'1 which had been a cause of much
agitation and bitter feeling for many years, was
finally set at rest by the passage of a Bill through
e Canadian Parliament, which was approved in
England, directing their secularisation.

I'nder its provisions, to quote from Canadian
history : l —

The Reserves were handed over to the various municipal
corporations for secular purposes, and a noble provision, made
for the sustentation of religion, frittered away so as to produce
ut very few beneficial results.

. . . The Pormis.sorv Act of the Imperial Parliament had
rved the life interest of incumbents. These interests were
now commuted by the Canadian Act of Secularisation, with
the consent of the clergymen themselves, and the foundation of
a small permanent endowment was thus made.

The endowment of the Church by the State was
thus practically put an end to in Upper Canada,
though in the Lower Province the rich possessions of
the lloman Catholic Church, secured to them by the
terms of the capitulation of Canada, remained and still
remain undisturbed.

MacMulleu's "History of Canada/' p.

M

178 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Throughout this controversy my father fought
the battle of the Church of England to the utmost of
his power, being both firmly convinced of her legal
rights and an attached member of her communion ;
but while he held the view that the religious instruc-
tion of the people should be, on grounds both of duty
and policy, the first care of the State, he was neither
hostile to denominations of the Church other than
his own, nor indisposed to give his practical aid to
them in their efforts to do good.

This cannot be better illustrated than by giving
some extracts from a letter addressed by him on the
12th April 1842 to the editor of The Church news-
paper, in which, in an extract from the Christian
Guardian and an editorial article, he had been held
up to unqualified reprehension for having granted a
site at Holland Landing to the Canada Conference
for a Methodist Church, thus " setting an erroneous
and pernicious example."

After explaining that the land forming the site
had come to him after the death of his brother Peter,
who had in his lifetime promised it for the purpose in
question, my father adds that even without this he
would have been disposed to yield to the request for
it, and says : —

It would by no means have been the first act of the kind for
which I have to answer, nor is it very probable that it would
have been the last.

I do not consider the inference a just one that by acts of
assistance of this nature to other religious societies, when
occasion seems to call for it, I give any evidence of an impres-
sion that " there is no material difference between the Church
and Dissent." It argues rather, I think, a conviction — which
I do seriously entertain — that there is a " material difference

;

vii RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE 179

between an ignorance of all religious truths, and the being
instructed in those truths by teachers who may differ from us
in several points of discipline and even of doctrine, while they
zealously and fervently inculcate the main articles of our
faith.

In travelling through the rural portions of Lower Canada,
the most agreeable objects in the landscape, to my eye, were
e numerous parish churches, although they were Roman
Catholic; and if Providence had cast my lot there among a
French population, and the question whether they should have a
church to worship in or not had depended upon my giving them
a few feet of ground on which to place it, I believe I should have
settled the question in the allinnative, not doubting that I was
serving the cause of religion, and doing some good to my
fellow-creatures.

. . . My opinions on this subject may very possibly be
influenced bv circumstances which are not of universal applica-
tion, but which I think it would not become those who know
them to leave out of account.

Before you were born probably, and at least before you had
heard of Canada, I was in the habit of travelling annually into
the remotest districts of this province in the discharge of
duties connected with the administration of justice.

Frequently, in the most lonely parts of the wilderness, in
townships where a clergyman of the Church of England had
never been heard, and probably never seen, I have found the
population assembled in some log building, earnestly engaged
in acts of devotion, and listening to those doctrines and truths
which are inculcated in common by most Christian denomina-
tions, but which, if it had not been for the ministration of
dissenting preachers, would for thirty years have been but
little known, if at all, to the greater part of the inhabitants of
the interior of Upper Canada.

... I am persuaded that but for their zealous labours
there would have been thousands and tens of thousands of our
people who would have grown up in utter forgetfulness or
ignorance of every Christian doctrine or duty — strangers to
any observance of the Sabbath, unmindful of the superintend-

180 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

ing providence of God, uninitiated in any truth of the Gospel,
and without any serious sense of their accountability in a
future state.

It was indeed bad enough, and is still bad enough in many
parts of this new country, with all that has been done or could
be done, in the absence of that effectual provision which the
Government of the parent State could alone have supplied ; but
if there had been no ministers in Canada but the few clergy-
men of our Church, zealous and enlightened as they were, I
fear it would have often happened that the obligation of an
oath would have been imposed upon jurors and witnesses whose
first and only acquaintance with the Scriptures would have
commenced when the Gospels were put into their hands in a
Court of Justice.

I have that confidence in what I believe to be truth — that
admiration of the rational doctrines, the pure worship, the
incomparable liturgy, the just and tolerant spirit of our
Church — that I do sincerely believe that the time will come
when those who have separated themselves from her will gladly,
and of their own accord, return under her shelter.

If we could see this in our own time, I believe we should
see the consummation of an object more desirable than all
others for the happiness of mankind ; that, hoMrever, we cannot
expect. In the meanwhile I apprehend we shall not be hasten-
ing its approach by exhibiting in our conduct or our language
that jealous spirit which is an argument of weakness rather
than of strength, which draws no distinction between the worst
superstitions of paganism arid any peculiarity of doctrine and
form which may separate from our communion the most in-
offensive and Jealous of our Christian brethren.

It may not inappropriately be mentioned here
that in 1828, when the "Religious Denominations
Bill" was before the House of Assembly in Upper
Canada, my father, then Attorney- General, voted
with the advanced Liberals in favour of the measure
—which had for its object to confer on all religious

MI RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE 181

denominations the power to appoint trustees to hold
hind in perpetuity for the purposes of meeting-ho;
chapels, or hurial-grounds.

There were several who opposed the measure,
and Mr. Read1 says with respeet to this:—

This shows that Mr. Robinson by his acts evinced his high
regard for the early settlers of the country of whatever faith or
political complexion.

Between the time of my father's first election (in
1821) as member for York (now Toronto) in the
House of Assembly and the year 18*21), when he
went upon the Bench, he continuously represented
York in Parliament, being twice re-elected, and was
very actively engaged in legal and Parliamentary
duties.

His earlier circuits were not unfrequently made on
horseback with saddle-bags, as the most convenient
method of travelling over many of the country roads,
and lie was, on account of his practice and from
being Attorney-General, regarded as head of the
Bar in Upper Canada.

By early association, education, and conviction,
he was a Conservative in politics, a strong supporter
of the Crown and of British connection, and a firm
advocate for the union between Church and State.

During his Parliamentary career he was often in
active conflict with the Liberal opposition, for he
soon became what may be termed the leader of
the Government (or Conservative) party ; but it is
gratifying to know that, with but very few excep-
tions, both opponents and friends have alike acknow-

1 Read's " Lives of the Judges" (1888).

182 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.
0

ledged that he was never actuated by unworthy

motives, was courteous to all, and free from bigotiy.
A writer in one of the Canadian papers thus
describes him at the time he was Attorney-General
and in Parliament : —

And first the King's Attorney rose,
Polite alike to friends and foes,
Who in strict justice takes such pride
He seems not fee'd on either side.

His work was very hard and unremitting, and no
doubt told subsequently upon his health. Writing
in 1827 to Dr. Strachan, then in England, he
says : —

Our session began on the 5th December. From that day
to the present, I have been constantly at work. Besides the
business of my office, always increased by the session, and the
bringing forward and supporting every measure of Government,
I am placed on almost every committee. Projects for im-
provements multiply upon us, local objects exciting conflicting
interests and feelings are to be adjusted, and I find that the
labour generally devolves upon me of putting things in shape
and devising the details.

I am now on more than twenty committees, and unless by
constant application I hasten business, the session must be
protracted, and I must be the greatest sufferer in every respect
by such a consequence.

I decline nothing of this kind, because I find that it tends
to place me on the best ground in the House — but it is
horribly fagging work.

In some works upon Canadian history my father
has been more or less condemned for voting in 1822,
when Attorney-General, that Mr. Bidwell1 should

1 Mr. Barnabas Bidwell, who had been returned as member for
Lennox and Addiugton.

vii MR. BIDWELL 183

be debarred from holding a seat in Parliament ; also
for introducing the Alien Bills in 1824; for his
association with what was termed " The Family
Compact " ; and for conducting, as Attorney-Gene-
ral, certain prosecutions for libel, deemed by some
narrow-minded and tyrannous.

He does not touch upon any of these matters in
his memoranda, and I imagine considered it to be
unnecessary ; but it may not be improper that I
should allude to them, especially as, were I not to,
my motive for silence might be misunderstood. In
doing so, I shall abstain from quoting from those
writers who have supported my father's general policy,
as what they say might to some extent be biassed in
his favour.

The matters of Mr. Bidwell and the Alien Bills
may be fittingly taken together.

The Alien Bills, or " Bills for conferring Civil
Rights " on certain inhabitants of the Upper Province,
were in fact liberal in their object, and meant to
place beyond all dispute the position in Canada of
many who were not by law recognised as British
subjects, as well as their power to dispose of their
property.

There were in Upper Canada many residents
formerly citizens of the United States, and many
officers and soldiers of foreign corps who had received
grants of land and settled in the province. These
had been allowed practically to exercise all the
privileges of British subjects, but were not regarded
as such by the law.

A measure to remedy this anomaly was deemed
necessary by the Colonial Office in the interest of
individuals and their estates, and the legal question

184 SIR JOHN BEVEKLEY ROBINSON CH.

of what did, and what did not, constitute an alien
was one of the main points involved.

When the Bills were first introduced, a majority of
the House of Assembly had contended that no one
who had been born in British America before 1783 l
could ever be regarded as an alien, and that the
children and grandchildren of those Americans born
before 1783 must, as the children and grandchildren
of British subjects, be themselves British subjects.

This contention my father from the very first had
differed from, and the Chief-Justice of England, in an
important case of Thomas v. Acklam, 4 D. & R. 394,
2 B. & C. 779 (1824), had ruled in a sense completely
opposed to it.

This case arose upon the trial of an ejectment
brought by one Thomas and his wife, Frances Mary
Thomas, to recover possession of some real estate in
Yorkshire. It was found by the jury, by a special
verdict, that the wife had proved herself the next
heir to the person who had died seized of the estate,
provided she could by law inherit.

The grandfather of Frances Mary Thomas, a
native of England, had emigrated to New Haven,
in the State of Connecticut, then a British colony,
where he was appointed collector of his Majesty's
Customs, arid died while holding that office in 1775.

He left several children, all of whom died without
issue except one daughter, Elizabeth. She, on the
22nd October 1781, married James Ludlow, who was
born in the State of New York, then one of the
British Colonies, and remained there after the separa-
tion of the American Colonies from the Crown.

1 The independence of the United States was acknowledged by the
Crown of Great Britain 3rd September 1783.

vii THE ALIEN BILLS 18.5

Elizabeth Ludlmv died in the year 1700 in the
I'nited States of America, leaving an only dauo-hter,
Frances Mary Ludlow, born at Newport, in the
Tinted States, 4th February 1784, who married Mr.
Thomas in the United States in 1807, and was the
Frances Mary Thomas, the claimant in this case.

The question of law which, upon the special
verdict of the jury, was left to be decided by the
Court of King's Bench, was whether, under these
circumstances, Frances Mary Thomas could inherit
lands in England ; and the Chief-Justice of England,
Abbott, C.J., delivering the judgment of the Court
of King's Bench, before which the case was brought,
said : —

James Ludlow, the father of Frances Mary, was undoubtedly
born a subject of the Crown of Great Britain ; he was born in
a part of America which was at the time of his birth a British
colony, and parcel of the dominions of the Crown of Great
Britain ; but upon the facts found we are of opinion that he
was not a subject of the Crown of Great Britain at the time of
the birth of his daughter.

. . We are of opinion that James Ludlow had ceased to be
a subject of the Crown of Great Britain, and became an alien
thereto before the birth of his daughter, and consequently that
she is also an alien, and incapable of inheriting land in England.

Mr. Ludlow had taken no active part during
the war, and had never abjured his allegiance to
Great Britain. He was also a member of a family
noted for their loyalty to the Crown, and his
brother 1 had lost much of his property by adherence
to the royal cause.

1 Chief-Justice Ludlow of New Brunswick, wlio>e daughter married
John Robinson, Speaker and Treasurer of New Brunswick, a sou of
Colonel Beverley Robinson.

186 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

This decision therefore bore with all the greater
severity upon his daughter Frances Mary Thomas,
and of itself showed that some measure in the in-
terest of persons in an analogous situation was
demanded as a mere act of justice.

With respect to the case of Mr. Bidwell, he was
very clearly an alien, as shown further on, if Mr.
James Ludlow was one, and it was solely because
my father as Attorney- General for the Crown held
the opinion that he was an alien in the eye of the
law, that he opposed his being permitted to sit in
Parliament, and moved in the House that he was
" an alien, and therefore incapable of being elected."

I now quote from my father's speech in com-
mittee on the Bill, December 5, 1825 : —

Upon the events of the war l I need not dwell. These are
sufficiently impressed upon the recollection of us all, and I
am happy upon this, as upon every other occasion, to bear
testimony to the loyalty and good conduct of a very great
portion of those people who had emigrated from the United
States.

It is this evidence of their general disposition which has
doubtless made his Majesty's Government here and in England
desirous that all apprehensions and difficulties as to their
civil rights should be removed, and that they should hence-
forward be assured of finding their situation in all respects the
same as if they had been born in the province, or had come
from any part of his Majesty's dominions. . . .

It is evident that the first point we are called upon to
decide is whether the different classes of persons mentioned in
the preamble of the Bill do, in fact, stand in need of a legisla-
tive enactment to confirm them in their possessions, and to
give them all the rights of British subjects.

1 Of 1812-15.

-

re1

-

MI THE ALIEN BILLS 187

It is impossible, Sir, for me to be in any doubt on this
head. . . .

With respect to our settlers from the United States v
no longer, in justice to them, shut our eyes to the truth that
many of them at least are subject to legal disabilities, which,
as it is intended that they should be placed on the same foot-
ing as the other inhabitants of the province, it is iiL-c-ossary to
remove by some positive legislative enactment.

We need but compare the facts as they affected the case
of Mr. Ludlow with those which affect the political situation
of many hundreds, and I may say indeed thousands, who are
w in this province, to be convinced of that necessity.

And further, in this speech he takes occasion to
refer to the case of Mr. Bidwell, and explain the
tion which he had taken regarding it, as follows : —

It had been proved in evidence that the member petitioned
against (Mr. Barnabas Bidwell) was born in one of the present
United States of America before the treaty of 1783, and while
\\as part of the British dominions; that he resided in that
country during the whole period of the Revolution ; that after
the .treaty of 1783 he had remained in the United States, had
worn allegiance to their Government, and abjured on oath
all allegiance for ever to the Crown of Great Britain ; that he
had held offices of great trust and confidence in the United
States until the year 1809 or 1810, when he removed to this
province where he had since resided, without, as it appeared,
having complied with the provisions of any British statute
under which he could have been naturalised.1

Being a member of the House of Assembly, it became my
duty to declare my opinion on oath, and I did so, and stated
very fully the reasons on which I had formed it. Those who,
like myself, considered the sitting member ineligible were of
opinion that, though born a British subject, he was not a

1 Mr. Bidwell, after his arrival in Canada, had taken the Oath of
Allegiance, but this was not held to confer, without the fulfilment of
other provisions, the privileges of a natural-born British subject.

188 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

natural-born British subject at the time of his election, which
they conceived was intended and required by the expression
used in the 31st of the late King . . . that the individual in
this instance had by the most open and unequivocal acts
declared his election to be a member of the new Republic by
abjuring his former Government, and that he became as
effectually an alien with respect to Great Britain as if he were
the subject of any foreign Power in Europe. He did not claim
or pretend to have been naturalised, but on the contrary main-
tained that the circumstance of his birth alone entitled him,
upon the principles of the common law of England, to be
regarded as a British subject without the aid of any naturalis-
ing act.

It can be seen from what has been said above
how much less ground Mr. Bidwell had to be viewed
as a British subject than Mr. James Ludlow.

It should be mentioned also that in 1823, at an
election for the counties of Lennox and Addington,
the returning officer had refused to receive votes for
Mr. Marshal Spring Bidwell, the son of Mr. Barnabas
Bidwell, on the ground that he also as well as his
father was in the position of an alien. My father
was in England, though, when this question was
debated.

It is a satisfaction and pleasure to be able to
give the following extracts from a letter, written on
24th February 1863, by Mr. Marshal Spring Bidwell
to my uncle, W. B. Robinson, condoling with him
and with my mother upon my father's death. They
tend to show that he at all events had not viewed
my father's action as springing from any want of
consideration, or from a loose unwarranted reading
of the law.

In alluding to him at the time when he was
Attorney-General, he says :—

MI LETTER OF M. S. BID WELL is?)

I remember distinctly the first time I sa\v Mr. Robinson.
I was a stndent-at-la\v, and had gone from Bath to Toronto
to attend the Court of King's Bench at Michaelmas term.
His appearance was striking. His features were classically and
singularly beautiful, his countenance was luminous with in-
telligence and animation; his whole appearance that of a man
of genius and a polished gentleman, equally dignified and
graceful.

Altogether his features, figure, and manners filled my
youthful imagination with admiration, which subsequent ac-
quaintance and opportunities to hear him at the Bar and in
Parliament only strengthened, and which was not diminished
by the difference between us in our views and opinions upon
public affairs. . . .

I heard him frequently at the Bar, and on some occasions
I had the honour to be junior counsel with him. He was a
consummate advocate, as well as a profound and accurate
lawyer.

No one could be more faithful. He studied everv
thoroughly, examined all the particular circumstances, and
made hiniM-lf master of all its details. He was sincere and
earnest in his opinions, uncompromising, frank, and fearless in
the expression of them.

J was pivscnt upon those occasions in Parliament which
aroused him to great exertions. He was at all times a correct,
interesting speaker, but upon these occasions he spoke with
great force and effect. The fire of his eye, the animation of
his countenance and his manner, combined with dignity, can-
not be appreciated bv any one who did not hear him. No
report of his speeches, no description of his manner and appear-
ance can convey to others a just and adequate idea.

He was an admirable Parliamentary leader. He never
exposeil himself by an incautious speech or act, and never
failed to detect or expose one on the other side. He never
attempted to make a display of himself, or indulged in useless
declamation ; but spoke earnestly and for the purpose of pro-
ducing an immediate effect.

He was always courteous, communicative, and obliging.

190 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

The above words, written long after the heated
controversies of these days were over, speak equally
for Mr. Bidwell's heart and impartiality, and are
much prized by my family.

It is a little difficult to understand why these
"famous Alien Bills," as they have been termed,
excited so much feeling as they did in Canada.

Some writers have considered that they were
disliked because it was supposed that to pass them
would be beneficial to the Conservative party, and
the opponents of that party naturally suspected the
cloven foot in any Liberal measure from that side of
the House. It has been supposed also that it was
then considered to be against public policy to offer
encouragement to foreigners to become British sub-
jects, although, had the initiative not been taken by
the Conservatives, the Liberal party must have com-
mitted itself before long to some measure of the
kind.

Others have considered it due to the provisions of
the Bills not being liberal enough.

Possibly it was from a combination of these
reasons, added to the not unnatural dislike which
many of those who had practically exercised for
years the privileges of subjects felt at being termed
and having to register themselves as " aliens."

In the words of a petition sent in against the
Bill : " Their feelings were wounded beyond expres-
sion at being compelled to come forward in a foreign
character, at the peril of their utter ruin, and repeat
that allegiance which they had frequently confirmed
under oath and sealed with their blood."

vii THE FAMILY COMPACT 191

My father says in his speech in 1825, above
quoted : —

It did appear to me that the suspicions of some honourable
nu'inlKTs were excited lest under the pretence of conferring a
benefit, some mischief might be intended. I confess that on
discovering this, I was influenced by a feeling of indignation to
which perhaps I ought to have been superior.

The term "Family Compact" was but a name
for those holding office under the Conservative
Government of the day.

Mr. Read, in his "Lives of the Judges," says:
" There are not wanting writers who have laid to the
door of the Family Compact all the sins that flesh
was heir to in those days ; " and a recent writer upon
Canada at this period says :—

The term " Family Compact " — first applied, it seems, by
Mackenzie in 18'33 — was a sneering reference to the Bourbon
League of the eighteenth century.

And he thus alludes to its leaders : —

Strachan and his friends were emphatically the Tory party
of Upper Canada. ... As became Strachan's pupils, the Tory
leaders were keen Anglicans, and felt as much interest in the
Clergy Reserves as in their own huge grants of wild lauds.1

Very possibly the name " Family Compact" was
first applied by William Lyon Mackenzie, as here
stated ; but I have before mentioned how my father
did not accept such a grant of land when offered to
him (Chapter VI. p. 150), and I have no doubt that

1 " Self-Government in Canada and how it was Achieved (the Story of
Lord Durham's Report) " by F. Bradshaw, B.A. (1903).

192 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

others of the Conservative party would have acted in
precisely the same way.

Many incidents in my father's career show that
neither land, nor office, nor money were ever unduly
sought for by him, and in an allusion which he makes
in 1854 to his family, though not in connection with
the Family Compact, he says : —

My father, Christopher Robinson, left three sons, all of
whom were like himself in process of time elected to the
Assembly, my brothers for counties and I myself for Toronto.
All have been members of the Executive Council of Upper
Canada, two members of the Legislative Council, and all three
have had regiments of Militia. I believe it to be quite true
that they owed their appointments to no applications of their
own, or of any one for them.

My own sons have never applied, and I have never applied
for them, to the Government for any office of any kind, and
they none of them receive a shilling from the public revenue of
the country in which I have served so long.1

I will only add to this, that if he and his
brothers held appointments often under the Crown,
they were also elected, some of them again and
again, to the House of Assembly by the votes
of the people ; and that Lord Durham himself, in
speaking of the Compact, says in his report :
" There is, in truth, veiy little family connection
among the persons thus united."

The fact seems to be that the Conservative party
at this time was largely composed of the earlier
settlers of Canada, or their descendants, many of
whom were United Empire Loyalists, though it is

1 Many years after my father's death, my brother, John Beverley
Robinson, became Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario (1880-87). This
was not, however, in the days of the C( Family Compact," but under
Responsible Government.

vii THE FAMILY COMPACT 193

ii mistake to suppose that all Loyalists belonged
to the Conservative party only. In that party
they were most numerous, but they were to be
found also in the ranks of their opponents. Tli
Loyalists had been in conflict more or less with
the United States, and sufferers from the prin-
ciples of a republican form of government for
upwards of a generation ; and in the events of the
French and American Revolutions, which may be
said to have occurred in their own time, had seen
much of the evils which may accompany the excess
of popular power.

In the twentieth century, when we are far re-
moved from these events, and when loyalty to the
Sovereign and attachment to British institutions
are so firmly established throughout the Empire, we
can hardly realise what a practical matter this
" loyalty" to the representative of the Crown was
at this period, and what solid ground many of the
Loyalists had to distrust those who were not known
to be firm supporters of authority and of the prin-
ciples which they themselves upheld.

As my father has said of them : 1-

Their feelings sprang from a pure source. Their loyalty
was sincere, for it led to the sacrifice of property, of country, of
kindred, and friends. By some it has been ascribed to the
influence (it would indeed be an excellent influence) of an
imaginary "Family Compact," or what they have called
" Oraogeum ; " by others, to an innate subserviency to power
for sordid purposes ; to anything, in short, but the existence
of that principle which teaches us to stand by the right
through good report and evil report, and to cling the closer to

1 " Canada and the Canada Bill " (1839).

N

194 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

what is just and good in proportion as we see it to be
ungenerously assailed.

The claim of the Loyalists, of all political parties,
to the consideration of Government rested not on
party, but on national grounds.

In order that it should never be forgotten, Lord
Dorchester, an early and able Governor of Canada,
expressed his wish, in 1789, to " put a mark of honour
upon the families who had adhered to the unity of the
Empire and joined the Royal Standard in America
before the Treaty of Separation in the year 1783."

In response to this an Order in Council was passed
at Quebec (9th November 1789) to register these
families,1 "to the end that their posterity may be
discriminated," for " distinguished benefits and privi-
leges."

This distinction, extending to the posterity of
those it honoured, shows the light in which Govern-
ment in 1789 regarded the Loyalist services ; 2 and
in the War of 1812-15 these Loyalists, and their
sons, again came prominently forward to preserve
Canada to the Crown.

It has been recently said : 3 —

In considering British sentiment in Canada, it is well to
remember its history. The founders of British Canada may
fairly be called " the first of the Imperialists."

To the "Family Compact" and Conservative party
which 1 have described my father was proud to belong.

1 See Appendix A., viii., as to this.

1 The above facts explain the value attached to the letters U.E.L. by
the descendants of the United Empire Loyalists. It is based upon the
" mark of honour," conferred over a century ago, by an Order in
Council, at the instance of the representative of the King.

3 Arthur Gill, letter to the Morning Post, Sept. 29, 1903.

MI PROSECUTIONS FOR LIREI, 195

On the subject of the prosecutions for libel,
which, when in the office of Attorney-General, he
deemed it right, or was directed by Government, to
institute, I shall say very little, because opinions must
often differ as to when the line is passed beyond
which it becomes weakness and against the public
interest, rather than magnanimous, not to take notice
of serious accusations preferred against an official,
and bearing upon his fitness to discharge a respon-
sible duty.

Of these prosecutions, that which has been most
commented upon was the one brought by him against
Francis Collins, editor of the l^rccman newspaper,
instituted in 1828. Collins, a bitter journalistic
opponent, had imputed to him as Attorney-General
falsehood, malignity, and what was practically neglect
of duty. He was found "guilty,1' and sentenced to a
fine of £50 and twelve months' imprisonment.

Mr. Bradshaw ' says as to this :—

Collins was largely to blame, for he mistook Robinson's
forbearance for timidity, and was not satisfied with a former
narrow escape.

And Kingsford in his History takes the same view.2

The offence was, in short, deliberate, and forbear-
ance had been previously exercised in vain.

I find from my father's papers that during 1824
the question of whether he would like employment
out of Canada was raised in the following letter from
Sir Wihnot Horton, Under-Secretary for State for
the Colonies, and Sir Peregrine Maitland seems later

1 " Self-Government in Canada." Ai\, hy F. IJnuMiaw (1903).

2 "History of Canada," by William Kingsford (1898).

196 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

on to have more than once suggested that he should
move to England ; but I find no replies to these sug-
gestions, and even had it been practicable to secure
for him any suitable post, which he could have
ventured to accept, I doubt if the idea of leaving
Canada would ever have been agreeable to him.

From Sir Wilmot Horton.

13th July 1824.

I believe that I mentioned to you the possibility of inde-
pendent Members of Council being appointed at the Cape,
Mauritius, and Ceylon — the maximum £3000, the minimum
^2500. Would you like such a situation, and are you anxious
to come to England (independent of Parliamentary views) to
prosecute the law, provided you could obtain a situation of
£500 or £600 per annum ? Let me hear from you on these
points.

In 1825 it was proposed that he should go upon
the Bench as Chief-Justice of Upper Canada, to
which he thus refers : —

In October 1825 Chief- Justice Powell having applied to
retire, the situation of Chief-Justice was offered to me by the
Secretary of State, but I declined, because I was young, and
had no objection to work in my profession, in which I had a
large and increasing practice.

I had many young children to be brought up and educated,
and the emoluments were not such that I could venture to
accept them, and give up my office of Attorney-General and
my growing practice at the Bar.

Mr. Campbell was made Chief-Justice, and having repre-
sented to the Government the insufficiency of the salaries of the
Chief- Justice and the other Judges for the proper support of
the Crown Offices, these were raised.1

1 As to changes made in the salaries of the Bench, see chap. ix. and
Appendix A.

MI VIEW OF LEGISLATIVE DUTY 197

His health failing, Mr. Campbell de-sired to retire earlier
than he subsequently actually did, when it was again propoM-d
to me to accept the office, which I again declined.

Not long after this, however, my father went
upon the Bench, as explained in the next chapter,
and upon his ceasing to be member for York, a
number of his constituents united in procuring
from England a valuable piece of plate, which they
presented to him in the following year (8th July
1830), and which bore the following inscription :—

Presented hv a number of the electors of the town of York
to the Honourable John Reverley Robinson, their highly valued
representative in the Provincial Legislature of Upper Canada,
as a mark of their ad mi rat ion of the talent, zeal, and integrity
with which, during a period of nine years, he has defended in a
popular assembly the genuine principles of the British Con-
stitution, and upheld the Government of his country.

The Law Journal1 thus alludes to his Parlia-
mentary life, and describes, I think accurately, the
views he held as to his obligations to his constituents
as their elected representative :—

Sir John Robinson held the doctrine that Parliamentary
representation was essentially different from delegation ; that
as a representative he was neither elected to legislate for a
particular class nor to advocate exclusive interests, nor was he
a mere agent with defined powers, and entrusted as it were
with proxies of the votes of his constituents, to give effect to
limited instructions. He claimed the right of individual judg-
ment, and that he was entrusted with discretionary powers to
be exercised as conscience and circumstances suggested. In an
address to his constituents (on the occasion of his last election
for York in 1828) he thus expressed himself: —

1 Law Journal, March 1803.

198 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

" You will do me the justice to remember that I have
always plainly told you that there was no object I could
propose to myself in my political career for which I would
exchange the satisfaction I desire to enjoy at its close, in the
reflection that I have ever moved in that path which my judg-
ment pointed out to be the right one. Whenever it shall
appear that this conduct disqualifies me for running the race of
popularity, I shall cheerfully submit to the consequences.'''

The same journal thus refers to him as a leader of
the Conservative party : —

As a Parliamentary leader Sir John has scarcely ever been
equalled in this colony. Amid the turmoil and excitement
consequent upon constitutional changes, he not only kept his
obligations to his friends, but, without pandering to their
passions, gained the honourable estimation of even his bitterest
opponents. The secret of his success was his sterling honesty
of purpose and his unbending integrity in its performance.

As a speaker Sir John Robinson had few equals. He was a
good debater, forcible in expression, and convincing in argu-
ment. His ability in responding to an opponent was un-
matched. Never taken by surprise, he has been known, after
a long and stormy debate, conducted against him by no
mean antagonist, to rise without the slightest preparation,
and grapple with every proposition, leaving no argument
unanswered, or misstatement uncontradicted.

He had great command of language. His speaking per-
haps did not often rise to eloquence in the general acceptation
of the term. He seldom attempted to electrify, or appeal to
the feelings and passions of his audience; he looked upon
eloquence and wit as weapons of a delicate nature, the use of
which was blunted and impaired by frequent employment, but
on the few occasions when he appealed to the loyalty of his
followers, or repelled, in a burst of virtuous indignation, some
ill-intentioned personal attack, he seldom failed to rally his
friends into enthusiasm, and cover his opponents with shame
and confusion.

CHAPTER VIII

THE BENCH AND IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
(THE CANADIAN REBELLION)

1829-38

Is Chief-Justice Campbell on the l&enrh .-at on Executive

Council — State Of CuiM*. 1!U.~> to U{;>!{ Agitation tor Responsible
(iovernment — Outbreak of ( 'anadian Rebellion - Attack upon Toronto
— Trial of prisoner* - I >»->t ruction of the Caroline - -- ( )utra£i«s on
Canadian frontier — Act against foreign I 'I rial of aliens

for treason — Letter a> to con^ultinij heads of departments -Offered
knighthood : reasons for declining it Lettei> from Sir F. Head, Sir
A. Mac Nab, Sir (J. Colborne, and Sir (J. Arthur — Their services to
Canada, &c.

IN 1829 ill-health compelled Chief-Justice Campbell
to retire,1 and the vacancy of Chief-Justice of Upper
Canada was for the third time offered to my father,
who accepted it, his commission being dated 13th
July 1829. He gives the following reasons for now
deciding to go upon the Bench :—

On this last occasion I had some scruple about standing
longer in the way of the promotion, which is naturally looked
for among members of the Bar, and I was apprehensive that,
by the appointment of some person from England not older
than myself, I might be shut out from the judicial office when
circumstances might lead me to desire it.

From this time, throughout his life, his duties
were mainly judicial, although under the colonial
system of the day he continued for a few years to
take a part in political life as President of the Execu-
tive and Speaker of the Legislative Council.

1 After his retirement ho was knighted (the first Canadian judge to be
so), and became Sir William Campbell.

200 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

These posts were filled ex officio by the Chief-
Justice, until the union of the Canadas in 1841, when
the occupants of the Bench ceased to hold any
political office.

My father, however, resigned the Presidency of
the Executive Council about 1832, it having been
intimated to him that, as a matter of Government
policy, it would be agreeable were he himself to take
that step — a suggestion he complied with at once; and
he never actually sat in the Legislative Council after
1838, from which date until 1840 he was in England.

As a consequence, he was not present in the
Legislative Council in 1839 during the debates upon
the Union Bill of that year, though he published in
England his views with respect to the Bill, which are
given fully in succeeding chapters.

I have some reason to think that his active
opposition to this Bill, which was afterwards with-
drawn, and differed in many points from that passed
in 1840, added to the fact that he had been in earlier
years Conservative leader in the House of Assembly,
have created among many an impression that he took
a greater personal share in politics when on the Bench
and also in the Legislative Council, i.e. between 1829
and 1840, than in reality he did.

The journals of the Council during this period
show that he was regular in his attendance as its
Speaker; but there is neither in them nor in the
references made to him in those newspapers of the
time which I have consulted, anything to indicate
that, after he had ceased to sit in the House of
Assembly and Executive Council, he ever, with the
exception I have alluded to in 1839, concerned him-
self very specially with political matters.

VIM IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

It may be added also that the duties of " Speaker,"
or presiding officer, are incompatible with taking any
active part in debate.

He must, of course, as official head of the Council,
have given his advice, when asked for, to the repre-
sentative of the Crown ; and from his long experience
of Canada he was no doubt often consulted : but in a
letter, from which I quote further on in this chapter,
to Sir George Arthur, it is to be gathered that his
wish was to be referred to only so far as was clearly
called for in the position which he held.

To his work as a legislator, in the general
rather than political sense, the Lmc Journal1 thus
alludes : —

The fruits of Sir John Robinson's life as a legislator are to
be found in the pages of our statutes. Several of our most
important Acts were framed by his own hand. They bear
evidence to his great legislative ability and to his clear percep-
tion of an existing evil or defect, and the remedy most fitted

remove it. They show his strong attachment to monarchical
institutions, his intention to preserve the relations of the
province with the Empire, and they are further characterised
by that close approximation to those British institutions which
have so long been our pride and our boast.

The period during which he was in the Legislative
Council was one of much political unrest in Canada.
The struggle for " Responsible Government," and
afterwards the Canadian Rebellion, disturbed the
country during these years, and were the most im-
portant events to which I need refer ; but it may
be said in addition that throughout the whole of
his association with politics, from 1821 (when,
shortly after the war, he entered the Lower House),

1 Law Journal of r\>per Canada, March 18(>;3.

202 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Canada was at periods in a more or less agitated and
unsettled condition.

To justly estimate the policy of the Conservative
party to which he belonged, and its attitude towards
the party of Reform, during the years when Canada
may be said to have been passing from youth to
manhood, it is necessary to understand something
of the then circumstances of the country ; but while
I must, for this reason, briefly allude to them, I will
confine myself, as I have occasionally done before,
to what has been written by those who, in their
general views, are certainly not partisans of the
Conservative policy of those days.

Mr. MacMullen writes : l —

The War (of 1812-15) which, in one way or another, drew
almost the entire male population of Upper Canada into its
vortex, had of itself completely unsettled the habits of the
people by its novelty and excitement; and the absence of
these mental stimulants, aside from the greater scarcity of
money, produced a very general irritation. . . . This naturally
found vent against whatever were deemed abuses, and formed
the microscopic medium through which the injuries they
entailed, whether real or fanciful, were regarded.

Then Mr. Robert Gourlay came to the country,
" distinguished for a litigious and dissatisfied, though
benevolent disposition . . . energetic, restless, ambi-
tious . . . indefatigable in hunting up abuses."'

Then William Lyon Mackenzie, a future leader
in the Rebellion, commenced a course of violent
attacks upon the Government, declaring that he

1 MacMullen's " History of Canada," p. 339.

2 Ibid., p. 341. Mr. Gourlay subsequently became insane, and was
imprisoned in England for striking Lord Brougham, a distinguished
advocate of Reform, in the lobby of the House of Commons.

vni STATE OF CANADA, 1815-1840 203

would rather work for his bread than k- submit to the
official fungi of the country, more numerous and
pestilential than the marshes and quagmires that
encircle Toronto."1

To this was added the struggle for Responsible
Government, and the whole culminated in the
Rebellion, which, while like a storm it eventually
cleared the air, was only put down after some
bloodshed, and, together with the contests over the
Union Bill, left the country politically unsettled for
a time.

It was in the year in which my father went upon
the Bench (1829) that the question of "Responsible
(Government" is said to have "first loomed distinctly
on the public view as the great panacea for Canada's
many evils ;H| and the agitation for the principle it
involved, which was that the Executive should be
responsible to the representatives of the people and
not merely to the Crown, was carried on after he had
ceased to be a member of the House of Assembly.

He is said by some to have been opposed, when in
the Legislative Council, to the principle of " Respon-
sible Government " in the Colonies. It would be
more correct, I believe, to say that he did not
consider that in the interests of the Crown and
British connection it could be prudently introduced
into Canada at the time its concession was being so
vehemently demanded, and under the then condition
of the country.

In this he may have been wrong, or he may have
been right, but the events of the Rebellion proved
that there were many in that political party which

1 MacMullen's " History of Canada," p. 360. - Ibid., p. 370.

204 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

was demanding a larger measure of popular control,
who under the name of " Reform " were aiming at
something essentially different; they desired a Re-
publican form of Government, and could not be
controlled by the more moderate of that party.

It is true that many of the latter had no sympathy
with these extremists, who eventually lost weight, but
while my father was in Parliamentary life there was
ground to view with great apprehension the intro-
duction of any measure, such as Responsible Govern-
ment, which would tend to increase their number,
and therefore power, in the Legislature.

In the Lower Province, Mr. Papineau, Speaker
of the House of Assembly, who had been twice
elected to that office, had, in 1835, spoken thus in
the House:1 —

The time has gone by when Europe could give Monarchies
to America; on the contrary, an epoch is now approaching
when America will give Republics to Europe.

Other members had used somewhat similar lan-
guage ; and Mr. Kingsford relates 2 how, in March
1836, Mr. Barnabas Bidwell, Speaker of the House
of Assembly of Upper Canada, laid on the table of
the House a letter from Mr. Papineau, Speaker of
the House of Assembly of Lower Canada, forward-
ing certain Resolutions of that body, and containing
these words :—

The state of society all over Continental America requires
that the forms of its Government ^should approximate nearer
to that selected, under propitious circumstances, and after

1 MacMullen's ' ' History of Canada/' p. 396. Mr. Papineau became a
leading instigator of the Rebellion in 1837.

2 "History of Canada," by William Kingsford (1898), V9l. x. p. 356.

>

vin RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT 205

mature consideration, by the wise statesmen of the neighbour-
ing Union.

Mr. MacMullen writes1 that up to the year 1826
fully one-third of the Reform party consisted of
emigrants from the United States, who " considered
that a Monarchical form of Government must be
necessarily arbitrary ; regarded Republican institu-
tions as the only liberal ones, and desired to see them
established in Canada."

And Mr. F. Bradshaw 2 also writes :—

The Radical opposition (i.e. the extreme section of the
Reform party), from the time of Willcocks :i to that of Kidwell,
consisted of United Irishmen and Americans, with a preference
for Republican institutions. . . . Many of the reformers in Par-
liament (in Upper Canada) held extreme views, among whom
was Dr. Duncombe, afterwards a rebel leader.

Responsible Government, which was introduced
into Canada in 1841, after the Rebellion had been
crushed, has, in the years which have since elapsed,
been of great advantage to the country ; but in con-
sidering whether it could have been wisely adopted
t an earlier period than it was, it must not be
forgotten that after the Rebellion the political situa-
tion had changed, the plans of the rebel leaders and
sympathisers been defeated, as well as their influence
lessened, and that the dangerous agitations along the
frontier adjoining the American Republic had prac-
tically ceased.

1 " History of Canada," p. :i7 J.

1 "Self-Government in Canada." pp. l-jil, ^7«>.

3 See p. 55, chap. iii. Sheriff \Villeoeks was an ex-Tinted Irishman
who was elected to the House of Assembly of Upper Canada. He joined
the enemy in the war, and was killed at Fort Erie in 1814, being then a
colonel in the American army. Mr. Bidwell was one of the Reform
leaders in 1837.

206 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

If a dispassionate and full political history of the
Conservative party in Canada between 1815 and 1840
ever comes to be written, it will be found, I think,
that the restraining influence of that party in critical
years contributed much, under the circumstances
which then prevailed, to the highest interests of
Canada. With regard to my father, he was far too
great an admirer of the British constitutional system
ever to have wished to keep Canada for an indefinite
period without as full a measure of liberty as was
enjoyed in England ; but he has not dwelt upon
this subject in his papers, and I have never heard
him speak of it, as he scarcely ever alluded to politics
at home.

In chapter ix. will be found his view of the
political system which now practically prevails in
the self-governing Colonies, written when the policy
of making them responsible for their own defence,
introduced about 1862, was under consideration.

To turn more especially to the origin and occur-
rences of the Rebellion, much has been written
about its causes from various standpoints, which 1
cannot here enlarge upon ; but it may be said that
they were not identical in Upper and Lower (or
French) Canada, the inhabitants of which two pro-
vinces, taken as a body, differed from each other in
many circumstances — a difference which made re-
bellion against the Sovereign more excusable in the
latter (which had been under the French Crown until
1759) than in the former.

With the affairs of Lower Canada my father had
no connection, and with regard to the rising in
Upper Canada, his share in the events which fol-
lowed it was confined to turning out, with many

viii THE REBELLION JO?

others in Toronto, to repel an unsuccessful attempt
to surprise the town ; to having to preside at the
trial of certain prisoners concerned in the Rebellion ;
and to deal with legal questions arising out of the
disturbed condition of the country, and more par-
ticularly out of the invasion of Canadian territory by
sympathisers with the Rebellion from the United
States.

Some have attempted to palliate, if not justify,
the abortive rising in the Upper Province, which was
confined in its extent, and of no very general or for-
midable character, by ascribing it to the tyranny and
selfishness of the Canadian officials of a Government
which it was in the interests of freedom to overthrow ;
but grounds for treason and armed rebellion, with
the bloodshed and loss of life which they were sure
to entail, cannot be said to have been existent in
Canada.

It has been well pointed out that —

Trial by Jury existed, the law of Habeas Corpus protected
personal rights, and the levying of internal taxation was vested
in the local Parliament.1

Some grievances there may have been. In cer-
tain parts of the country officials might possibly have
been inclined to be autocratic in manner or in act ;
and the time had probably come when the old
method of governing the country from the Colonial
Office was unsuited to the circumstances of Canada,
no matter how able and high-minded those might
be to whose duty it fell to administer it. It
is probably true that the real discontent, which was
naturally worked upon by agitators, dissatisfied either

1 Mac-Mullen's " History of Canada/' p. 408.

208 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

with their position, or the form of government, or
their share in it, arose, as has been said,1 both in Upper
and Lower Canada, "from economic as opposed to
political troubles — in Upper Canada from the back-
ward condition of the country, which in turn was due
to want of capital and* population, and to the exist-
ence of a quantity of ' dead land,' which obstructed
all improvement."

It is certain that the mass of Upper Canadians
had no sympathy whatever with the Rebellion ;
and that, for one who aided it, numbers turned out
to put it down.

Mr. Kingsford writes : —

Except with some of the leaders of the Reform Party,
there was no sympathy with the political attitude assumed in
the Lower Province.2

It is doubtful also if it did not retard more than
advance the more beneficial of those political changes
which were afterwards introduced; but as to the
effects which would have accompanied its success
I can say nothing which could bear with as much
weight as that which has been already said by one
of its leaders, Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie himself
(who years afterwards died in Canada), in a letter
written 3rd February, 1849,3 to Earl Grey, Secretary
of State for the Colonies, of which the following is
an extract : —

A course of careful observation^ during the last eleven years
has fully satisfied me that had the violent movement in which
I and many others were engaged on both sides of the Niagara

1 " Self-Government in Canada," by F. Bradshaw, p. 277.

2 Kingsford's " History of Canada," vol. x. p. 357.

3 " Lite and Times of William Lyon Mackenzie/' by C. Lindsey (1862),
p. 291. "The Story of my Life," by the Rev. Egerton Ryerson (1884),

viii TORONTO THREATENED 209

proved successful, that success would have deoplv injured the
people of Canada, whom I then believed I \\;is serving at ^rcat
risks. ... I have long been sensible of the errors committed
during that period. . . . No punishment that power could
inHict, or nature sustain, could have equalled the regrets I have
felt on account of much that I did, said, wrote, and published ;
but the past cannot be recalled. . . . There is not a living
man on the Continent who more sincerely desires that British
Government in Canada may long continue.

With regard to the events of the Rebellion in
Upper Canada, it is enough to say that, in December
1837, when the regular troops had been entirely
withdrawn from the Upper Province to suppress the
insurrection in the Lower, an attempt, headed by
William Lyon Mackenzie, who, with others, had
fomented a rising near Toronto, was made to gain
possession of that town, which was the scat of Govern-
ment, and to seize the Government buildings.

No doubt several who took part in this had be-
come convinced that they were patriots, while others
joined from motives not so creditable.

When at night, on the 6th of December, the alarm
bells summoned the loyal inhabitants of Toronto to
repair to the City Hall, where two guns had been
placed, and some arms and ammunition stored, my
father turned out with the rest, and Sir Francis
Head,1 Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada at this
time, thus alludes to him l : —

were of course a motley group. I had a short double-
barrelled gun in my belt and another on niv shoulder. The
Chief-Justice had about thirty rounds of ball cartridge in his
cartouch, and the rest of the party were equally well armed.

1 "The Emigrant," p. 170, by Sir Francis Head, who was Lieutenant-
Goveruor of Upper Canada, January 183G to March 1837.

O

210 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

I find the memorandum from which I quote
below among my father's papers, written upon the
day on which this attempt was repulsed : —

Thursday, 7th December 1837.

The loyal feeling of her Majesty's true subjects has been
nobly displayed to-day, and the result promises peace and
happiness to Upper Canada for years to come.

For some weeks past reports had been brought to Toronto
from the settlements about Newmarket and along Yonge Street,
that there were people training by hundreds under certain
leaders who have been long known as disaffected and seditious,
but who were not supposed to be so desperate and daring as
to rise in open rebellion against their Sovereign.

The loyal inhabitants in the neighbourhood of these
armed meetings were much alarmed, and so many accounts
arrived of an intended attack upon Toronto that serious
anxiety was felt by the inhabitants of the city as well as of
the country.

The Lieutenant-Governor looked upon these meetings of
the rebels as an effort to deter him from sending away the
troops to the assistance of our fellow-subjects in Lower
Canada, where thousands of French Canadians are in arms.
But on Sunday last such particular reports were received
of an intended attack, and so much alarm was felt in several
parts of the country, that he addressed an order to the different
militia regiments calling upon them to hold themselves ready
for duty upon any emergency arising either here or in Lower
Canada.

This order was ready for distribution on Monday, and
the mayor and citizens of Toronto, aided by the zealous
exertions of Colonels Fitzgibbon and Stanton, had made some
arrangements for guarding the Bank, the City Hall, and such
points as were likely to be assailed. About midnight on the
4th December, the town bells rang an alarm, and the citizens
hastily collected at the City Hall, where arms and ammuni-
tion were delivered to them. His Excellency, Sir Francis
Head, came down promptly, and placed himself among the

vin COLONEL HOODIE KILLED 211

assembled inhabitants, armed like them and ready to resist the
threatened attack.

It was uncertain to what extent the treason might have
spread, and how many men might have been deluded to join
in the attempt. A call was therefore sent by express upon
the militia of the adjoining districts to require their aid. On
Monday evening sonic hundreds of armed rebels had pa
down Yonge Street; some were on horseback and others on
foot. They were in general armed with American rifles,
and many of them with pikes and spears. It was not doubted
that their intention was to make some attack on the town, and
several loval inhabitants who had seen them pass resolved to
make the best of their way into Toronto, to give notice of their
approach, and assist in repelling them.

Captain Stewart, and Colonel Moodie formerly of his
Majesty's 104-th Regiment, were of this small party. Captain
Stewart was made prisoner, and remained so till relieved by
the advance of the militia under Sir Francis Head.

Colonel Moodie endeavoured to make good his way, but
was shot down hy a discharge from several rifles upon the
word of command given by one of the leaders; and thus was
this gallant veteran, who had fought for his country in many
battles,1 shot on the Queen's highway. Two or three of the
party succeeded in getting in, having been fired upon, but
fortunately not hit.

When the rebels came to within a mile or two of the town
they met several of those who hail volunteered their services
to ride up Yonge Street, and gain intelligence of their move-
ments. Some of these they took prisoners, and among them
John Powell, Esq., who, upon attempting to escape was shot
at, but without effect. He succeeded in getting into the town,
and the accounts received from him and from other quarters led
to the expectation of an immediate attack, which every possible
effort was made to meet.

When daylight came, the rebels were seen, in a large body,

1 Colonel Moodie had served in the Peninsular War' and in that of
1812-15.

212 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

near the first toll-gate on Yonge Street, and it was reported
that they were hourly receiving large accessions to their force.

In the meantime hundreds of loyal persons flocked to the
garrison and to the City Hall to receive arms and ammunition,
and to join in the defence of the place. The very best spirit
was shown.

During the next day the brave and loyal militia of the
country came in numbers to offer their services.

My father's account ends here, but the defeat
of the insurgents, on the day on which it was written
(Thursday, December 7, 1837), at Montgomery's
Tavern on Yonge Street, by the force under Sir
F. Head, with whom were Sir Allan (then Colonel)
MacNab, Colonel Fitzgibbon and others, is a well-
known incident in the history of Upper Canada.

During the alarm in Toronto, my mother with
her younger children, of whom I was one, was placed
with other ladies and children upon a steamer in
the bay.1

My father bears decided testimony to the value
of the service rendered by Colonel Fitzgibbon upon
this occasion ; and in writing from Brighton, on the
14th August 1839, to Bishop Strachan says, in a letter
of which a copy was afterwards forwarded to the
Colonial Office : —

With regard to his (Colonel FitzgibbonY) services in Decem-
ber 1837, I have no doubt (and I should be happy to state this
on every occasion when it could be useful to him) that his
earnest conviction before the outbreak that violence would be
attempted, and the measures of precaution which he spon-
taneously took in consequence of that impression, were the
means of saving the Government and the loyal inhabitants of
Toronto from being, for a time at least, at the mercy of the
rebels; and I believe that the most disastrous consequences

1 See Appendix A., VII.

vin TRIAL OF PRISONERS 213

would have followed the surprise which Colonel Fitzgibbon's
vigilmce prevented. His conduct, also, when the crisis did
OCCIT, was most meritorious.1

It fell to my father's lot, in the course of his
duty as Chief- Justice, to try at Toronto (on the 8th
March 1838) two prisoners upon the charge of
treason ; and, with reference to the extreme penalty
of the law having been carried out in the case of
these- men who had taken a leading part in the
rebellion, the Law Journal of Upper Canada says : 2 —

It has been asserted that the Government were in receipt
of a despatch from England forbidding capital punishment
f>r political olK-mvs without the approval and sanction of
tie Imperial authorities, but, like many other charges made
inder similar circumstances, we believe this to be quite in-
/apaMe of proof, and altogether contrary to fact, and that,
in truth, no such despatch was known to, or received by, the
Government,

So clear is the memory of the Chief-Justice from the im-
putation of having advised the Lieutenant-Governor to carry
out the extreme penalty of the law, that he had ceased for
some time previously to be a member of the Executive Council.

In passing sentence on the prisoners he very properly dwelt
upon the enormity of their crime, but his remarks were im-
bued with compassionate and sorrowful feeling, and a gentle-
man in Court at the time has remarked that after the
prisoners had pleaded "Guilty1" and the sentence of death
was passed upon them, of the three individuals concerned, the
Chief- Justice was most certainly the most painfully affected.

It is only because the assertions alluded to by the
Law Journal have been made, that I am not silent
on this subject altogether.

1 Colonel Fitzgibbon had also performed distinguished services in the
War of 181 -J !.->.

" Law Journal of March 1863.

214 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

The prisoners pleaded " Guilty," so that no evi-
dence was taken at their trial, and in reporting to the
Lieutenant - Governor their convictions, my father
refers him, for the circumstances of their cases, to the
Crown officer, and the commissioners who had in-
vestigated the charges.

He had certainly resigned his seat on the Execu-
tive Council some years before ; and if consulted as
to the sentence, as he very possibly was, it may be
assumed to have been in his capacity of Chief- Justice,
and solely as to the legal aspects of the case. There
were few, I am convinced, who regretted more than,
he did that these misguided men had placed them-
selves in the position they had.

In his charge to the Grand Jury he pointed out.
that though " our laws inculcate no doctrine sox
slavish as the necessity of absolute submission to
every degree of tyranny that a Government can ex-
ercise," no tyranny existed in Canada which could
be held to justify armed rebellion against the
Queen.

At this point, in order to make more clear certain
references by my father to the further events of the
Rebellion — given by me in later chapters — I may say
that throughout December 1837 and during 1838,
the country was in a very disturbed condition, insur-
rection and bloodshed occurring in more than one
quarter.

William Lyon Mackenzie escaped to Buffalo in
the United States ; and from thence the " Patriots,"
as they were termed, took possession, in December
1837, of Navy Island (belonging to Canada) about
two miles above the Falls of Niagara, established a

viii BURNING OF THE CAROLINE

provisional government there, and threatened an in-
vasion of the main shore of Canada.

On 13th December Mackenzie issued a pro-
clamation, in which occur these words : —

Compare the great and flourishing United States with our
divided and distracted land; and think what we also might
h.ivr hern as brave independent lords of the soil. Leave then
Sir 1-Yancis Head's defence to the miserable serfs dependent on
hi> bounty.

Sir Allan (then Colonel) MacNab was sent with
a body of militia to Chippewu, opposite Navy Island,
to watch and oppose the rebels.

Under his orders, on 29th December 1837, Cap-
tain A. Drew, a commander in the Royal Navy who
had settled in Canada, with a party of volunteers,
very gallantly surprised and cut out from under Fort
Schlosser, on the American side of the river Niagara,
the steamer Ca?-o/hu\ which was being used by the
Patriots to convey guns, men, and supplies to Navy
Island, and sent her, in flames, to drift toward the
Falls. These volunteers consisted of Mr. Harris,
R.N., Lieutenant McCormick, R.N., and men accus-
tomed to boats. The boats were five in number,
according to Captain Drew's official report, contain-
ing about nine men each (forty-five in all). During
the crossing they were, at one time, not more than
half a mile above the Falls.

This was an extremely hazardous enterprise, if
only on account of the certainty there was that the
boats conveying the party, if the oars or gear were
damaged by accident, or by shot, would be swept by
the strong current and the rapids over the Falls.
But the service was carried out with skill and resolu-

216 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

tion, the surprise was complete, and the object was
in consequence attained with a very small loss of life
in boarding the vessel.

The burning of the Caroline caused great ex-
citement and indignation in the United States, and
threatened to lead to a war, for though the American
Government had in no way officially recognised the
" Patriots," the vessel was an American one, was on
the American side of the river Niagara, and flying
the American flag.1

The destruction of this steamer was declared by
Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons to have
been, under the circumstances, a proceeding perfectly
justifiable, but the matter was the subject of corres-
pondence for nearly five years between the British and
American Governments, and was only finally closed
in 1842, when an expression of regret was tendered
by the former that some explanation of, and apology
for, the act had not been offered at the time it
occurred.

On the 14th January 1838 the "Patriots" were
compelled to evacuate Navy Island by the fire of
guns brought to bear upon them from the Canadian
side of the river.

During 1838 secret Patriot associations, called
" Hunters' Lodges," were organised in every direction
along the American frontier, their object being to
revolutionise, and, as it was termed, "liberate" Canada,
and the feeling between Great Britain and the United

1 This flag was subsequently presented by Captain (afterwards Admiral)
Drew to the Royal United Service Institution in London, by which body
it has since been transferred to the Public Library, Toronto, Canada.
The Assembly of Upper Canada passed a vote of thanks to Sir Allan Mac-
Nab and Captain Drew, and presented each of them with a sword for their
conduct in the Rebellion.

vin BORDER OUTRAGES 217

States became very strained, owing to the destruction
of the Caroline and disputes with respect to the
" Maine boundary."

Armed bodies of filibusters under Sutherland,
Dodge, Theller, and others invaded Canada along
the Detroit frontier.

The Canadian islands of Bois Blanc and Point
Pelt* were occupied, and advances upon Windsor,
Amherstburg, and Sandwich took place.

A band under a man named Johnson seized and
burnt the steamer Sir Robert Peel on the St. Law-
rence, and committed depredations at Amherst Island.

A descent, under a Polish adventurer named Von
Schultz, was made upon Prescot on the St. Lawrence,
and a raid under Morreau, as its leader, took place
across the Niagara frontier.

Many outrages were committed along the borders
of Canada and the United States ; the families and
property of loyal Canadians and other British subjects
along the extended frontier line were continually
exposed to acts of violence and intimidation, and
a general sense of insecurity and danger prevailed
throughout the country.

On every occasion, however, the incursions of the
so-called " Patriots " ended in repulse — though in
most cases only after some bloodshed — and by the
close of 1838 the Rebellion had been entirely put
down, and the gaols in Canada were full of prisoners.

My father's two eldest sons, Lukin and John,
served in its suppression, Lukin with the militia
under Sir Allan MacNab opposite Navy Island, and
John1 at the defeat of the rebels near Toronto.

1 John Beverley Robinson, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario,
1880-7.

218 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

A.D.C. to Sir Francis Head, for whom he afterwards
carried despatches to Washington.

Measures were adopted in Canada upon the out-
break of the Rebellion, and questions arose in con-
nection with these measures — more especially as to
" aliens " (i.e. Americans and other foreigners) made
prisoners in the Rebellion — which gave rise to some
debates in Parliament in England, and to protracted
correspondence with the Home Government.

The Legislature in Upper Canada considered that
the most effective way to meet the special dangers
which had to be faced at this time — viz., the union of
numbers of American citizens and adventurers from
the United States with disaffected British subjects in
an attempt to revolutionise the country, and the
chance that the excited state of feeling upon both
sides of the border might be stirred up until it
brought about a war — was to pass a special Act,
which was assented to by the Lieutenant-Governor
on the 12th January 1838.

This was entitled "An Act to protect the in-
habitants of this province against lawless aggression
from subjects of foreign countries at peace with her
Majesty."

By its provisions, foreigners invading the country
without the authority of their Government, and all
British subjects joining with or aiding them, were
made liable to trial before special military tribunals
(courts-martial) constituted by the express authority
of the Legislature, and to be sentenced, upon con-
viction, to death, or such other punishment as the
court might award.

The Act left, however, to the Executive Govern-

vin FOREIGN AGGRESSION ACT 219

ment the alternative of waiving, when it might think
fit, the trial hy court-martial, and prosecuting the
offender by ordinary law.

The Legislature preferred this course to that of
proclaiming martial law generally, because, while it
drew very prominently the attention of all disaffected
British subjects and foreigners across the border to
the peril they would run of prompt trial by court-
martiiil for aiding the Rebellion, it left the ordinary
law of the country in full force for all other purposes,
and would probably be less likely to excite hostile
feeling in the United States than the summary pro-
ceedings which might in some cases possibly take
place were the law of the land generally superseded
by the law-martial.

It was well understood in passing it that Ameri-
can citizens and other aliens, who by residence
in Canada or otherwise had incurred obligations of
allegiance to the Crown, and also all British subjects,
were liable, should they endeavour to upset the
Government of the Queen, to be tried before the
ordinary courts of law for high treason ; but in the
case of those aliens, who, without having previously
incurred any such obligation of allegiance, entered
the country to aid in a revolt, it was held that they
could not properly be so tried, i.e. arraigned and
made liable to capital punishment for violating an
allegiance which they had never acknowledged.

My father, with reference to this Act, says :—

It was not passed without a consciousness that possibly a
difficulty might be felt in England as to allowing it to remain
in force ; but the very existence of the Government required
this responsibility to be assumed, and confidence was felt that
her Majesty's Government would incline strongly to uphold a

220 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

measure just and even humane in itself, and prompted by the
strongest sense of duty to the Crown and to a faithful and
loyal people.

The Government in England, acting upon the
advice of the law officers of the Crown, were dis-
posed to disallow this Act, not on the ground of
illegality, for it was admitted not to be inconsistent
with international law, and that it was within the
competence of the Colonial Legislature to pass it,
but because it was deemed that it was not properly
framed, that its provisions were calculated to produce
certain difficulties, and that, if it was considered ex-
pedient to authorise the trial by court-martial, instead
of ordinary courts, of parties charged with high
treason committed in the province, this ought to
be done by an Act not directed so specially against
foreigners, but equally against all persons— foreigners,
natives of the country, and others.

It was contended also (in opposition to the view
which had been taken by the law officers of the
Crown in Canada) that all aliens, subjects of a
friendly power, invading her Majesty's territory to
upset her Government, whether they had previously
incurred any obligations of allegiance or not, could be
legally and properly tried by the ordinary courts for
" high treason," they having none of the rights which
could be claimed by alien enemies, but being alien
" amys," i.e. subjects of a friendly Power at peace
with the Queen, and as such owing her allegiance
directly they entered her dominions.

Lord Brougham, in some remarks made in the
House of Lords, condemned as absurd an opinion
supposed (in error) to have been given by the

vin FOREIGN AGGRESSION ACT L>LM

Attorney-General in Canada as to the trial of aliens
for treason.

With respect to this, Lord Lyiidliurst had shown
to Lord Brougham some rough memoranda my
father had placed in his hands, and writes thus to
the latter in 1839 as to them:—

The historical facts and the authorities which you have
collected, with the observations you made upon them, are so
interesting, that I very much wish, if you have sufficient
leisure, you would put them in writing, that the whole question
may be carefully and fully considered.

He also enclosed in this letter one from Lord
Brougham to himself, in which the latter says : —

I return the Chief- Justice's paper, which I have only just
got and read over hastily.

What I said was " too absurd to require a serious answer""1
was by no means the doubtful and difficult question here
discussed; but that an alien cannot commit treason, and is
an outlaw, and to be therefore shot summarily. However, I
differ with the Chief- Justice, on the whole.

Whatever the merits of the legal points involved,
it was in the end decided not to interfere with the Act.

Of the prisoners tried for offences connected with
the Rebellion, several were disposed of by military
as well as by civil courts. Some of the ringleaders
were executed, some transported, and most of the
less guilty pardoned.

1 have referred at some little length to the above
matters, as it will explain the allusions occurring in
my father's journal while in England in 1839 (Chapter
X.) to reports and letters to, and to conversations
with public men with respect to the Liability of

222 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Aliens to be tried for Treason; the Point Pele
Prisoners; the American Invaders, &c.

The measures taken in respect to these prisoners,
and the cases of some invaders taken in arms, who
were summarily shot in the Sandwich district, gave
rise to much correspondence.

The following letter from the Duke of Welling-
ton to Lord Mahon, 7th December 1838, gives his
opinion as to the necessity for firmly executing the
laws and carrying out a determined policy at this
juncture : —

What right have we to endeavour to prevail on British subjects
to emigrate to Canada if we do not mean to protect their lives
and property, and to execute the laws that have that in view ?

If we ought to carry the law into execution with respect to
natives, we are still more bound to take that course in respect
to foreigners, who, in addition to all that can be urged against
the act of rebellion by natives, are guilty of insolence to the
laws and authority of a foreign Government.

We must protect our English subjects against these attacks
either by the weapon of the municipal law, or by making war
upon the foreign Government whose subjects attack our terri-
tory and our subjects.

This is the common-sense of the case. Everything else is
nonsense.1

It can be easily understood that much responsi-
bility during the Rebellion fell upon the Government,
and that not a little of this devolved upon my father,
to whom the head of the Government naturally
looked for advice, owing to his long experience of
public life and of the people of Canada, upon many
questions.

1 "Conversations with the Duke of Wellington/' by Lord Mahon
(afterwards Earl Stanhope), 1889.

vni CONDUCT OF PUBLIC BUSINESS 223

The following private letter to Sir George Arthur,1
then Lieutenant-Governor, will show how anxious
my father was that no ground should be given for
supposing that his opinion was unduly sought lor,
or offered, upon questions not appertaining to his
judicial office : —

16th April 1838.

MY DEAR Siu GKOHGE, — An inquiry which you made this
morning induces me to say a few words to you on a subject
which is of some delicacy and no little consequence to the
successful and agreeable administration of the Government. I
have, besides, a personal reason for availing myself of a fair
excuse for addressing some remarks to vour Excellency upon it.
You asked me what had been the course usually pursued here
in regard to references upon various public matters which were
under the consideration of the Government. There is no
reason why any peculiar svsl'-ni should prevail in this province
with regard to references or consultations. What is right in •
England or in any other regularly conducted Government will
be right here, and no deviation from the proper cour.-e can
continue long without producing inconveniences and disadvan-
tages of some kind.

The Executive Council are of course the proper advisers on
questions of policy and expediency, the Crown officers on all
matters that involve legal considerations — and all persons in
charge of departments should be communicated with freely on
all matters connected with their departments. When this is
not done they have not the ppportunity which they should
have of stating objections; and, fancying that they are not
confided in, they grow unfriendly, jealous, and suspicious ; and
there is much excuse for their becoming so, for it is a most
uncomfortable thing to feel that they are held responsible bv
the public for measures and arrangements in their department
upon the presumption that they must have been consulted,
while in truth they may have heard nothing of the matter, and

1 Sir George Arthur was Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada 1837
to 1841, succeeding Sir Francis Head.

224 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

may have had no opportunity of making their wishes or
opinions known. Human nature in Upper Canada is like
human nature everywhere else.

With regard to myself, personally, it is fair towards your
Excellency, and but justice to myself, that I should leave no
room for misapprehension.

As Chief- Justice, I am, like my brother judges, liable to be
called on for reports, opinions, and advice in those cases in
which recourse would be had to the judges in England, and in
no others. I have no concern in the executive affairs of the
colony, and no claim or wish to be consulted on any of them,
except when they have so direct a bearing upon the general
administration of justice as to make such a reference proper;
and the more your Excellency bears this in mind, the better it
will be, for it is most desirable that everything should as much
as possible be made to pass through its proper channel.

I had been sixteen or seventeen years Attorney-General,
when Sir John Colborne came here, and in that capacity I had
to be necessarily and properly in constant confidential com-
munication with the Lieutenant-Governor. I continued in
that office for seven months after his arrival, and when I was
made Chief-Justice I became — according to the Colonial system
of that time — President of the Executive Council, so that the
habit of frequent reference to me was not interrupted.

During his administration that system was changed, and I
became merely Chief-Justice and Speaker of the Legislative
Council, having in neither capacity anything to do with the
executive measures of the Government, but my long acquaint-
ance with public business gave me a good deal of traditionary
knowledge, which it was desirable the Government should have
the advantage of. Most (if not all) of the original officers of
the Government had passed off the stage, and I was a sort of
connecting link between the first and second generation, having
long acted with those whose experience was no longer available
to the Government.

When Sir Francis Head came, I took an early opportunity
of explaining to him the relations which my office and duties
placed me in to the Government. In the last few months of
his residence here the times were such that it was the plain

vin OFFERED KNIGHTHOOD

duty of every one to be useful in all things to the utmost
extent, and in the hurry and anxieties of the moment perhaps
he did not constantly bear in mind distinctions of this kind,
which, nevertheless, cannot be expediently overlooked.

I have troubled your Excellency with this explanation because
it may be useful.

I do not affect to be without the common feeling of anxiety
that all things may be done for the best in the country I live
in, and from a principle of duty any information I ]><>
upon public questions, and my opinions upon private matters
(not interfering with the free discharge of my judicial duties),
are at the service of the representative of my Sovereign, when-
ever he may think proper to desire them.

But my wish is that any assistance of this kind should be
sought and rendered in such a manner as to give the least
possible occasion for uneasiness or remark in any quarter.

I shall take it for granted that your Excellency will never
think it necessary to refer to me on my own account, except in
those cases when it would be reasonably suppo>ed that I must
have been consulted, and where, consequently, I should share
the responsibility for any erroneous decision.

I am sure your Excellency's experience will prevent your
misapprehending anything I have stated, or my object in being
thus explicit. — I am, very respectfully and faithfully, your
Excellency's obedient servant, JOHN" U. ROHINSON.

For his services to the Crown, my father was, in
1838, offered the honour of knighthood, which he
declined, and the following extract from the Upper
Canada Gazette, with respect to Colonel MacNab and
himself, refers to this : —

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, 3rd May 1838.

In giving publicity to the following despatch, the Lieutenant-
Governor avails himself of the opportunity it affords him of
expressing his high sense of the important services reported to
him as having been rendered by Colonel MacNab, during the
period in which the body of the militia of Upper Canada, of
which he had the command, were employed in suppressing

P

226 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

an unnatural and unprovoked rebellion, and in repelling the
foreign outlaws and brigands who had attempted its invasion.

His Excellency much regrets that his Honour the Chief-
Justice has, from motives of the most peculiar delicacy, declined
the honour intended to have been conferred on him, as the
Lieutenant-Governor feels assured that it would have afforded
all classes of her Majesty's subjects in this colony the greatest
satisfaction, that a mark of royal approbation had been
bestowed on a public officer, whose long and arduous services,
and whose eminent abilities and integrity in the discharge of
his official duties, so fully entitle him to any distinction which
his Sovereign might graciously deem it proper to confer on
him. — By command of his Excellency, J. JOSEPH.

(Copy.)
No. 42.

DOWNING STREET, 14#A March 1838.

SIR, — I have had the honour to receive Sir Francis Head's
despatch of the 1st February (No. 14), calling the notice
of her Majesty's Government to the important services of
Colonel Allan MacNab and Mr. Chief-Justice Robinson, during
the late insurrection in Upper Canada, and suggesting that the
honour of knighthood should be conferred on these gentlemen. . . .

In my despatch of the 30th January last (No. 16) I have
already conveyed to you the Queen's gracious approbation
of such of Colonel MacNab's services as had at that time been
brought under her Majesty's notice. I have received her
Majesty's commands to express her high satisfaction at the
courage, spirit, and ability, which he has displayed in the trans-
actions which have been since reported to me.

Her Majesty will not fail to take into her favourable con-
sideration Sir F. Head's suggestion, that some public mark of
her approbation should be bestowed on Colonel MacNab.

I have laid before the Queen Sir Francis Head's report
of the services of Mr. Chief-Justice Robinson ; and have at
the same time had the honour to submit to her Majesty
that gentleman's letter declining the honour solicited for him
by Sir Francis Head. I have received her Majesty's com-
mands to express, through you, to Mr. Robinson, her appro-

vin THE CAROLINE •>•>-

bat ion of his long and valuable exertions in the service of the
Crown, and her sense of the disinterested motives by which his
letter of the 6th ultimo was dictated. — I h.-ivc. \:c.

(Signed) GI.F.VKU:.

My father's reasons for requesting that this
intended distinction should not be conferred upon
him are thus explained by himself: —

Sir Francis Head, no doubt from the kindest feeling, wrote
to request, during the Rebellion of 1837, that the honour of
knighthood should be conferred upon Mr. MaeNab and myself
— being the Speakers of the respective Houses, and both active
on that occasion.

I happened to hear that he had written to that effect from
a gentleman to whom he had mentioned it in confidence, and I
was in time to prevent hi* good intentions from being carried
out, by writing to Lord Glenelg to beg that, so far as I was
concerned, it might not be done. The Government, for some
reason or other, had never conferred knighthood upon the
Judges in these provinces, as they have occasionally done in the
Eastern and Southern Colonies and, I believe, in the West Indies.

VAs Chief-Justice, therefore, I did not feel that I had any
obvious claim to it, while Mr. Sewell had been many years
longer discharging with great credit the duties of Chief-
Justice in Lower Canada without being so distinguished ; and
it seemed to me rather absurd to allow myself to be knighted
foi\merely doing my dutv, as everybody around me had done
in a period of trouble and danger to all.

The letters below refer to the period of the
Rebellion : —

From Sir Francis Head (from before Navy Island and -chile
mi/ fatJier was evidently, during hi* alienee, acting at

Government House?)

CHIPPEWA, 2nd January 1838.

MY DEAR CHIEF, — I have not a moment to write, but I
wish to tell you my opinion of the capture of the Caroline,

1 These letters were evidently seut by private hand, having no post-
mark on the envelope.

228 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

as far as I have had time to form it from the facts before my
eyes. It has caused wonderful excitement, and has agitated
what was before tranquil, but this, I think, will be produc-
tive of good. As long as Jonathan could laugh at M'Kenzie
firing at us, it was a capital joke. Now they are lugged in for
his misdemeanours; and I think it will make them reflect.
— Yours in haste, F. B. HEAD.

His Honour The CHIEF-JUSTICE,
Government House, Toronto.

CHIPPEWA, 4th January 1838.

We have made all our preparations for attacking the
wasps1 nest on Saturday morning next, but I begin to think
they will fly away.

I hope you are not bent to the ground by the weight of my
chain. I am glad to get it off my own neck.

From Sir Allan (then Colonel) MacNdb (when before
Navy Island).

CHIPPEWA, 5th January 1838.

MY DEAR SIR, — I hope that your many friends have given
you regular accounts of our proceedings here. Every prepara-
tion that could be made has been made. We have now boats
sufficient to cross 1200 men, and it is absolutely necessary to
keep active operations going on.

I do not think it will be necessary to attack the island.1
From the correspondence I have had with the authorities on
the other side, I have formed my opinion.

I am quite satisfied that the destruction of the Caroline
and our active measures here have produced all this. They are
much alarmed for the safety of Buffalo and all their frontier
towns, and that alarm creates the great excitement.

I am not insensible to the noble triumph it would be to
put down the long dreaded revolt, about which so much has
been said here and in England. That we should have driven

1 As we have before mentioned, the enemy was compelled, as Sir
Allan anticipated, to evacuate the island by artillery fire without any
attack upon it by the infantry.

vni STATE OF LOWER PROVINCE 229

these rebels from our country, defied and dispersed those in the
United States who assisted them, without the assistance of a
soldier or the loss of a man, this is the kind of victory I wish
to obtain for Upper Canada, and to gain that great object all
my operations are directed ; but, in doing this, we must pre-
pare for the fight, and if we can gain our object and avoid the
lo« of life with honour to ourselves, rely upon it, I will do
it. — Yours very sincerely, ALLAN MACNAB.

From Sir John Colborne l (soon after the attempt upon Toronto
and outbreak in the Upper Province).

MONTREAL, 6th January 1838.

MY DEAR Cnn F-JrsricK, — Do acquaint my friends the
Attorney and Solicitor-General that there is not a person in
Upper Canada more aware of the critical position of affairs in
your province than I am, or more alive to the absolute neces-
sity of sending you every man that can be spared to Niagara
and Toronto. The fact is, we have been packing our troops
off as fast as we can find conveyance for them.

You will have two regiments among you in a few days, and
more if I can venture to part with them. Read the enclosures
which I have forwarded to Sir Francis. You may rely upon it
that I shall never require to be prompted. — Yours very sin-
cerely, J. COLBORXE.

From the Same.
(As to State of Affairs in the Lower Province.)

MONTREAL, 19th February 1838.

DEAR CHIEF- JUSTICE, — Without attempting to account
for my silence or requesting you to believe that I have from
day to day made good resolutions to write to you, I shall seize
the opportunity of a quiet half-hour to have a talk with you
on our affairs. I am still annoyed incessantly with reports
from all quarters of the evil intentions and designs of our
skirmishing, unseen enemy, acting on the extended line from

1 Afterwards Field-Marshal Lord Seaton, Lieutenant-Governor of
Upper Canada 1828 to 1835, Governor and Commauder-in-Chief of both
provinces of Canada during the Rebellion 1837.

230 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Amherstburgh and Sandwich to Stanstead, one of our eastern
townships.

At Kingston the officer in command has been more alarmed
during the last week than at any period of the troubles, and
insists that there are not less than two thousand brigands
assembling at Watertown and five hundred at French Creek,
provided with pikes and artillery to cross and attack the
steamboats.

The fact is, that when it was known that two regiments
had been sent by me from Montreal to the Upper Province,
and that two companies of a third regiment were in motion,
the rebels, assembled at Swanton, St. Albans, and Plattsburg,
imagined that the regulars would have full employment ; and
since that time contracts for arms, ammunition, and field-pieces
have been made by them, and preparations have been going on
near this frontier. They have so far succeeded in creating an
alarm that about 400 persons have left Montreal, and there is
more excitement in this district than there has been since the
outbreak of the revolt.

We have been obliged to arrest two members of Parliament
at Nicolette, near Three Rivers, for spreading false reports.

I have been compelled to assemble a sufficient force at
St. John's and Acadie to attack and capture the invaders
should they be inclined to pass the frontier by La Colle, &c.
The Habitants' houses in all the villages from La Prairie to the
frontier are well filled with troops, and I have brought down
the Glengarry Volunteers to show them that, if their friends on
the other side of the line will not disperse, they must suffer for
their folly and their wickedness.

Before we commence any discussion upon the measures
which are to be adopted in the future government of this
province we must prove that we have the power and the will
to enforce obedience to the law.

I intend to adhere to martial law in this district till we
hear from home upon the subject. Arrests are made daily,
and it will be difficult to adopt measures to prevent the con-
tinuance of this reign of terror.

The suspension of the Constitution would be the first act
that I should recommend. If they have courage to agree to

via LIEUTENANT-GOVKRXORS

tluit measure1 time will be <;iven to the Cabinet Minister^ to
take a new departure, with many valuable landmarks for their
guidance.

\\ V have every reason to be satisfied with the efforts of the
Governor of Vermont and of General Wool, the ollicer em-
ployed under General Scott. Complaints have been made
against General Scott for his activity by the voters of New
York. — Very sincerely you: J. COLBO.

AVhatever may be the opinion held by any indi-
vidual as to the Government policy prior to and
during the Rebellion, it must, I think, be admitted
that in many respects those representing the Crown
in lrpper Canada, Sir John Colborne (afterwards
Lord Scaton), Sir Francis Head, and Sir George
Arthur, were all possessed of qualifications fitting
them rather exceptionally for positions of authority
at a disturbed and critical time.

All of them were distinguished soldiers, active
and able men, and with experience of the world.

Sir John Colborne 2 — prudent and extremely cool
in emergency — was a man of few words and prompt
action. Napier describes him as a " man of singular
talent for war/' He had served in Holland, Egypt,
and the Peninsula, and had been Lieutenant-Governor
of Guernsey.

At Waterloo, by his sudden attack with the 52nd
Regiment, made without orders and at a critical
moment, upon the flank of the French Imperial Guard,
he had contributed largely to its complete defeat.

Sir Francis Head, chivalrous, brave, and outspoken,
was a man of tireless activity. An excellent horse-

1 Tliis nioHsure was adopted.

- It is to his irreat interest in educatioual matters that Toronto mainly
owes I'pper Canada College.

232 SIR JOHN BEVEKLEY ROBINSON CH.

man, he had performed exceptionally long and rapid
journeys in South America. He had served in the
Royal Engineers at Waterloo,1 was known as a clever
writer, and was understood when appointed to Canada
to be so liberal in his views that he was looked upon
by some as a tried reformer.

Sir George Arthur, high-minded, firm, and
humane, had had experience of government before
he came to Canada.

He had served in Egypt and Holland, been
granted the freedom of the City of London for
exceptionally gallant services at Flushing, and been
Lieutenant- Governor of Honduras and Van Diemen's
Land.

In the former island he had suppressed a serious
revolt of the slave population, and his despatches on
the subject of slavery had attracted the attention of
Wilberforce. In Van Diemen's Land he had done
much to improve the convict system, and in both
Governments had received exceptional marks of the
esteem of the inhabitants and their appreciation of
his services.

Amid the political excitement and turmoil which
surrounded all three of these representatives of the
Sovereign during the time they held office, they were
well qualified to act impartially and with deliberation,
and their sole aim was to quell disorder and outrage,
and preserve Canada to the Crown.

While dealing stringently with the leaders and
agitators who had stirred up the ignorant to commit
treason, they were all of a forbearing and humane

1 He was, I believe, the only British officer present both at Ligny and
Waterloo, having- been sent on some duty to Field-Marshal Blucher's
army in time to see the former battle, and returning in time for the
latter.

I

viii LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORS 233

temper — extremely anxious not to bear too hardly
upon the deluded followers of these leaders.

Some have considered them as cold and rather
unsympathetic soldiers, but have strangely misinter-
preted their characters.1

It may perhaps be pardonable in me to give the
following extract from a confidential letter to my
father written in 1838 by Sir George Arthur with
respect to the prisoners who had been convicted of
treason : —

The Attorney-General returned to me last evening the list of
the persons convicted and who have petitioned. I do feel
very anxious that not one should be recommended for trans-
portation in whose favour anything can ho advanced to save
him and his family from the ignominy of this disgraceful
punishment.

I know there is much to be said against all the parties

implicated ; but, on the other hand, from the bottom of my

heart I think that if ever there was any excuse for treason it

extend to all but the ten or twenty ringleaders in this

province.

Sir Francis Head carried forbearance to its very
utmost limits.

Writing of these events in 1846,2 and explaining
his policy of forbearance up to the point when the
use made by the enemy of the steamer Caroline
forced him to change it, he says : —

The difficulty which, without exception, was the greatest I
had to contend with during my residence in Upper Canada was
that of restraining the power which, under a moral influence,
had rallied round the British flag.

1 Both Lord Seaton and Sir Francis Head lived to he over eighty years
of age. I remember meeting both in England between 1857 and 1865.
- " The Emigrant/' by Sir F. B. Head (1846).

234 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

For nearly a fortnight the militia, in obedience to my
repeated orders, without returning a shot had submitted in
patience to the fire of twenty-two pieces of artillery, the
property of the Government of the United States.

By many, whos^ counsel it was my duty to respect, I was
admonished that it was not politic to allow the militia of the
province to be subjected to insult and disgrace.

Many of my steadiest adherents seriously disapproved of
the course I was pursuing; and even Captain Drew, R.N., now
in this country (England), who on the outbreak had joined the
ranks of the militia with a musket on his shoulder, and who
was ready enough when called upon to do what was right,
declared to Sir Allan MacNab that if the system I was pursuing
was much longer continued, he should feel it due to himself and
his profession to retire from the scene.

I need hardly say with how much pain I listened to obser-
vations of this nature, and how anxious I was to recover the
territory I had lost. On the other hand, the more I reflected
on the subject, the more I felt convinced of the propriety, as
well as prudence of the policy I was pursuing.

In August 1837 my father's continuous applica-
tion to work brought on a serious illness endangering
his life,1 which compelled him to apply for leave of
absence upon medical grounds.

On 27th August 1838, he writes thus to the
Honourable John Macaulay, acting as secretary to
the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir George Arthur :—

. . . Your letter to me came at a time when I was wholly
unable to answer it, and when I was indeed so ill that it was
not communicated to me then, nor for some days afterwards.

I am recovering rapidly from the effects of this severe attack,
and of the remedies to which it was necessary to resort. My

1 I gather from a letter to him from Dr. Widmer that he was suffering
from what is termed ' s Nephralgia. "

viii SERIOUS ILLNESS

illness does not indicate, I hope, any permanent decline of
health, but by my friends it is considered to have ari-«
evidently from an incessant and perhaps injudicious application
to business, long continued, that they have been earnest in
urging upon me to solicit from the Government such an interval
of relaxation as may be likely to restore me to my usual state
of health.

The physicians especially who attended me (Doctors Short,
Widmer, and King) have enjoined this upon me strongly as a
matter of necessity ; and as their opinion on this head might
be made the ground of my application, I have requested that
they would make their statement in writing.

They have done this in the papers which I now send. M)
judgment confirms their opinion, and I have determined,
though with reluctance on some grounds, to apply for his
Excellency's permission to be absent for a year in England,
during which period I should probably reside chieHy at
Cheltenham. . . .

\Yith respect to the discharge of my duty in my absence,
the late addition to the number of Judges makes the Jk-nch
now consist of five instead of three, and as four only can sit
together in Bank, according to the Act, the Court will still be
full. In regard to the additional duty which my absence will
throw upon my brother Judges, I know I may venture to
with confidence, that it will be undertaken with cheerfuhu

I beg to add further that during the nine years and
upwards that I have been Chief-Justice, I have not, for any
private purpose either of business or pleasure, been absent that
I can remember for a single day from my duty in the Courts
or in the Legislature.

It will not be in the power of his Excellency the Lieutenant-
Governor, I believe, under existing regulations, to grant me a
longer leave than six months, and for any extension beyond
that time I must rely upon the kind consideration of the
Secretary of State. To enable his Excellency to judge more
satisfactorily of the propriety of aiding my application, I have
thought it best to make these statements here in the Colony,
Nvhere the facts must be generally known. . . .

236 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

Writing afterwards (in 1839 and 1840) to his
sister, Mrs. Boulton, who was also unwell, and re-
ferring to this illness, he says : —

I am wearing out, I suppose, from foolish fagging and
anxiety, and you from watching and worrying for all your
neighbours and kinsfolk. I have worried myself too much
through life from anxiety that in public matters all things
should go as they ought. However, I would not exchange
the satisfaction I feel in having done what I believed to be
my duty for any consideration.

When I had that serious illness in August 1837, the first I
ever had, my mind was constantly turning to early scenes.
When I looked back to the twenty or thirty years that had
intervened, I felt that I had been labouring and worrying
myself in great measure in vain.

After all, my dear sister, it comes to this, that, living
innocently, and striving earnestly to do our duty in all things,
we must bring ourselves to feel that, while we are thus acting,
we are fulfilling the will of God, and that whatever ills we are
doomed to bear in the dispensation of His Providence are not
properly to be regarded as misfortunes, but must be intended
for our good.

Having obtained six months' leave of absence,
my father and mother, with their younger children,1
left Toronto for New York (27th September 1838)
via Lake Champlain, and reached Bristol in the Great
Western, one of the first steam vessels to cross the
Atlantic, after an exceptionally quick voyage of
twelve days, twelve hours.

1 Of the other children, Christopher remained at Upper Canada
College, and Lukin and John joined the party afterwards for a short
time in England.

CHAPTER IX

THE DURHAM REPORT— THE UNION BILL— VIEWS AS
TO CONFEDERATION, ETC.

1838-40

Arrival in England— The Durham Report— The Union Hill— Letters to
;;iry of State— Publication of "Canada ;uul the Canada Hill "—
Provisions of Union Bill of UJoM -My father's ohji-ctions to them —
Feeling in 18.'}!) as to union of all the British North-American
provinces --• My father's views— Considers the union of the two
provinces alone certain to lead to embarrassments — Alternative-
scheme giving Upper Canada a seaport — Letter to Sir Charles
Metcalfe (1844) as to the Union Act— Deadlock in the Provincial
Legislature under the Act — Confederation ensue? — Summary of
grounds for opposing Union Bill— His views of British (iovernment
in the Colonies under Responsible Government with respect to
maintenance of British connection.

UPON reaching England my father and his party
spent two days at Clifton, and went thence to
Cheltenham, to be near my mother's relations, the
Merrys. The following cordial welcome from Sir
Francis Head, then living at Atherstone Hall in
Warwickshire, met them on their arrival :—

20th October 1838.

Welcome to the shores of Old England ! I can scarcely
believe you are once again in the same country with me. For
the first time since I left Toronto I miss my power, for if I had
an orderly sergeant, or an aide-de-camp, or a secretary, I would
iul them all to the Chief-Justice to beg him to come to me.
But I know you won't refuse, so do write me a line, and fix when
you and Mrs. Robinson and your children will all come here.

We have no amusements to offer you, but if I were in
prison I would ask you to come to me, and I believe I should
not ask in vain.

237

238 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

So my Lord Durham has broken reins and traces, and
kicked himself clean out of harness.

With reference to the last paragraph of this
letter, it must be explained that during the events
of 1838, and before the suppression of the Rebellion,
the Constitution in Lower Canada had been (29th
March 1838) temporarily suspended, the administra-
tion being carried on by a " Special Council."

It had become a very urgent matter to determine
by what civil as well as military measures peace and
prosperity could be restored and maintained in the
future, and a feeling of loyalty to the Crown and
harmony between the French and English portions
of the colony ensured.

The Earl of Durham had been sent to Canada as
Governor-General and High Commissioner (arriving
27th May 1838), charged to make a report with a
view to " the adjustment of certain important affairs
affecting the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada,"
and it was generally recognised that some radical
changes in the system of government of a liberal
tendency would be introduced. He remained in
Canada a little over five months, almost entirely in
the Lower Province, and then, on account of the dis-
approval by the home Government of some of his
measures, resigned, and on 3rd November left Canada
for England. It is his resignation to which Sir
Francis alludes in the last paragraph of his letter
given above.

On the 31st January 1839 Lord Durham pub-
lished his report in England, where my father was at
the time. It was ably written, and entered at length
into the state of things existing in both provinces of

ix DURHAM REPORT— UNION BILL

Canada, with the causes which, in his opinion, had
led up to it ; and recommended the union of Upper
with Lower Canada as a measure necessary for future
tranquillity and good government — or, more accu-
rately speaking, a " re-union " of these two provinces,
which had been one until they were divided in 1791.

Later on, 20th June 1839, a Bill, framed on the
basis of Lord Durham's report, was brought in by
Lord John Russell in England, for " Re-uniting the
Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, and for the
Government of the United Province."

This Bill, commonly spoken of as " The Canada
Bill " and " The Union Bill," was very different in
some important provisions and details from that
which received the royal assent in 1840.

At this time my father, in consequence of his
intimate acquaintance with Canadian affairs, was
urgently pressed by many both in England and
Canada to make public his views with respect to
the Durham report and the proposed union, which
he eventually did in " Canada and the Canada Bill,"
published in London early in 1840.

Much of his spare time, more than was desirable

doubt as far as his restoration to health was con-
cerned, was taken up, during 1839-40, with the
question of the " Union," and on this account, and
the better to explain the frequent allusions to this
subject in his journal and correspondence1 while in
England in those years, I give below what he says
himself in an entry in his journal as to the course he
took. This entry was made 20th January 1840, just
before " Canada and the Canada Bill " was about to
issue from the press.

1 See Chaps. X. and XI.

240 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

From my Father's Journal.

I came over to England in 1838. A wish was expressed by
Lord Glenelg 1 to see me on Canadian affairs. I saw him in
November and December, and also in January 1839, but all
discussion for practical purposes was postponed by consent till
Lord Durham's report should be received.

This came in February, recommending the union of the
Canadas and other matters, and was sent to me for remarks.

On 23rd February 1839 I wrote a long official letter on the
report, objecting to the union, and assigning reasons.

I was requested to state what I would prefer. This I did
in official letters of 9th and 29th March 1839, mentioning,
when I gave them in to Lord Normanby, that if the Govern-
ment should at all concur in my suggestions, of course I should
have no desire to make my letters further known, but that if
they should take a different course, I must be considered at
liberty to state publicly what I had advised on being referred
to at such a crisis. He assented to this.

Neither in writing nor verbally were my suggestions ever
discussed with me, nor do I know by whom they have been con-
sidered, or what was thought of them.

After this I heard no more till the Queen's message an-
nounced that the Government had determined on re-uniting
the provinces. Reading this in the newspapers, as every one
else did, gave me the first intimation that they favoured this
course.

In June they introduced their Bill, of which I was as wholly
ignorant as if I had been in India, until a member of the
House of Commons, unconnected with the Government, gave
me a copy.

Of Mr. Thompson's 2 appointment, or the objects for which

1 Secretary of State for the Colonies. Soon after this (February 1839)
Lord Normanby succeeded Lord Glenelg, and was not long afterwards
(August 1839) replaced by Lord John Russell.

2 In the autumn of 1839 Mr. Poulett-Thompson (afterwards Lord
Sydenham) was sent to Canada to succeed Lord Durham. He was to
obtain information as to details which had been found wanting in the
Union Bill, and endeavour to influence opinion in its favour. In the
meantime the Bill was withdrawn for a session.

ix DURHAM REPORT— UNION BILL I'll

he was sent, or his instructions, not a word was e\< r said
to me.

Lord John Russell has communicated with me on two other
subjects in writing, and has seen me once, but never alluded to
their measures respecting Canada, nor did I. I have always
abstained from inquiring (as their desire seemed to me to be
ved), and have contented myself with letting it be seen
that I was willing to give them all the information in my power.

Karly in November 1839 I began a paper on the Bill, and
having said what I desired upon its principles and details, I
determined that I would print it,1 with an introductory
chapter, and a letter to Lord John Russell. The latter I
made longer than I had at first intended.

All was written, and the whole examination of the Bill
printed before anything was known of the opinions of the
legislative bodies in Canada upon the Bill, and in fact before
they had met and discussed it.

Much of the Bill against which I have objected seems now
to have been given up, but it is satisfactory for me to show
that I was correct in my opinion that those parts of the Bill
would not be approved in the Colonies by any party.

The words above, " seems now to have been given
up," mean given up at the date of this entry in his
Journal, i.e. 20th .January 1840. The Legislature in
Canada discussed the Bill in December 1839, and
" Canada and the Canada Bill " was published in
England in January 1840. It was not certain, of
course-, what would be the future of the Bill, which
had been temporarily withdrawn, but Mr. Poulett-
Thompson had expressed his intention to recommend
to the Imperial Government not to press certain of
those provisions to which my father had objected.

Lord Durham's report — a blue-book with appen-
dices of 690 folio pages — was a very exhaustive one,

1 This paper was printed under the title of " Canada and the Canada
Bill."

242 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

and my father's letters to the Secretary of State,
commenting upon its statements and suggestions,
constitute themselves reports of some length.

In his first letter of 23rd February 1839 he dis-
cussed the measures advocated by Lord Durham,
and the grounds and evidence upon which they had
been apparently based.

In his letter of 9th March he gave his own sug-
gestions— as he had been desired officially to do—
for the future government of Canada, and in that of
29th March explained the measures which, in his
opinion, would most conduce to the security of the
country, and to restoring confidence in its financial
stability and future prosperity.

I have already mentioned (in Chapter III.) some of
the defensive measures which he advocated in his
letter of 29th March 1839, and it would be tedious,
and is needless for me, to enter at this point into
details of the Durham report, and my father's reply
to it in the letters above alluded to, because one of
the most important results of that report was the
Union Bill of 20th June 1839, largely based upon it,
and the provisions of which were examined and com-
mented upon by my father in " Canada and the Canada
Bill," to which I shall particularly refer further on.

It should be explained that the Durham report,
as far as Upper Canada was concerned, was not
based upon Lord Durham's personal acquaintance
with that part of the country. He had been but
eleven days passing through Upper Canada, of which
five had been spent in travelling, one in Toronto,
and the remainder at the Falls of Niagara.

This portion of the report necessarily rested upon
information supplied by others, and the correctness of

ix DURHAM REPORT— UNION HILL i> w

some of this, and of the deductions drawn from it,
my father disputed.

Apart from its general recommendations, and
while fully admitting the ability with which the re-
port was drawn up, he considered it, especially with
respect to Upper Canada and its strictures upon the
conduct of public matters there, to be in many points
incorrect and misleading.

It is singular with respect to a State document so
important politically and historically as this has been,
that it is doubtful to the present day who really
inspired those portions of it which related to Upper
Canada, and that it seems clear that up to the eve of
his departure for England, Lord Durham himself was
strongly opposed to the union of the Canadas, which
he advocated in it.

No one denies, writes Mr. Bradshaw,1 a warm
appreciator of the services of Lord Durham, that the
latter had consistently opposed, during the whole of
his stay in Canada, the proposed union of the pro-
vinces ; and on 2nd October 1838, one month before
he sailed for England, the Earl wrote thus to Major
Richardson : 2-

I)i AK SIR, — I thank you kindly for your account of the
meeting (got up in favour of the union in Montreal), which
was the first 1 received. I fully expected the "outbreak"
about the union of the two provinces. It is a pet Montreal
project, beginning and ending in Montreal selfishness. — Yours
truly, DURHAM.

Sir Allan MacNab also wrote to Sir Francis
Head some years afterwards : 2 —

1 " Self-Government in Canada," by F. Bradshaw (1908), p. 250.

3 "The Emigrant," by Sir F. B. Head, pp. 378 an.l 376, Major
Richardson was author of a " History of the War of 1812-15 " (see p. 42),
and was then acting as correspondent of the Times in Canada.

244 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY,

MONTREAL, 28th March 1846.

MY DEAR SIR FRANCIS, — I have no hesitation in putting on
paper the conversation which took place between Lord Durham
and myself on the subject of the union. He asked me if I was
in favour of the union. I said " No." He replied, " If you
are a friend to your country oppose it to the death." — I am,
&c., ALLAN

Mr. Bradshaw1 discusses whether Buller or
Turton, or Wakefield, who were all associated with
Lord Durham, wrote certain parts of the report, and
with regard to that portion of it relating to Upper
Canada, says :—

It is unfortunate that Lord Durham himself did not stay
long in Upper Canada, for he would probably have left a truer
picture.

And again —

A sketch of the political history of Upper Canada is then
given in the report, but it cannot be said that it possesses
anything like the value of that in the previous section (i.e. on
Lower Canada). . . .

It is an unpleasant feature in this section of the report (on
Upper Canada) that such charges are made without any
evidence to substantiate them.

What I have mentioned above is of little public
consequence. Lord Durham signed the report, and
therefore accepted it and made it his own, and he
was right to change the views which he had held
three months previously, if convinced that they were
wrong.2 I allude to it, though, to show that my
father had apparently good ground both to be sur-

1 " Self-Government in Canada," by F. Bradshaw, pp. 275-284.

2 Lord Durham, having been in ill-health for some time, died 28th
July 1840, shortly after the passing of the Union Act. What the grounds
for his change of opinion were are possibly less known on this account.

ix DURHAM REPORT— UNION KILL 245

prised at the tenor of the report, and also to repudiate
much that was written in it, especially regarding the
particular province with which lie had heen so long
himself officially connected.

I wish (he wrote to the Secretary of State) your Lordship
to understand that I am able to speak to most, if not all, of the
matters adverted to in this report, and that I am now ready to
show at any time, and in any place, that MR- ivport, in most of
what relates to Upper Canada, is utterly unsafe to be relied upon
as a matter of information by Government or by Parliament.

One point which in his letter of 29th March he
laid stress upon as essential to produce confidence
abroad in the financial stability and industrial future
of Canada, was that the Mother Country should
show clearly its determination to maintain its con-
nection with the colony.

It had been urged by some that the difficulty of
defending Canada was so great that the idea of doing
so must he given up as impracticable.

Alluding to this in his letter, he says : —

Canada cannot be abandoned, and never will be while
England is a nation ; and surely sound policy and good
economy is to look the true state of things fairly in the face.

Let it be supposed that any Power in Europe should take
a fancy to the most barren of the Orkney Islands, or of the
rocks of Scilly, would not Great Britain put forth, if it were
necessary, the whole of her strength to defend it? Canada
must be defended from a sense of the national honour, just
as an individual protects his property, at the peril of his life,
against a small encroachment as well as a large one. Nation-.
like individuals, if they would be respected, must know no
other rule.

But happily there is much to cheer the British nation in
their resolution to defend these Colonies. Their present value
is great, their prospective importance to the Empire can

246 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

scarcely be estimated. Their growth in power and wealth
is certain and inevitable.

That they can be defended there is no reason to question :
there is indeed no ground for apprehending their loss, so long
as Great Britain retains her supremacy on the ocean, and when
that shall be at an end, what will become of her other colonies
in all quarters of the globe? And what will be her rank
among the nations ? The vital question with her is the
preservation of her naval superiority ; and from those who
believe that an Almighty hand rules the destinies of nations,
it calls for the liveliest feelings of gratitude to Providence,
that to aid her in maintaining the indispensable condition of
her greatness, she has the harbours, the fisheries, the commercial
marine, the timber, the hemp, the coal, which these colonies
present, or may be made to yield.

To turn now particularly to my father's book,
" Canada and the Canada Bill."

In the introductory letter to Lord John Russell,
he refers to the reasons which influenced him in pub-
lishing it :—

Had I suppressed the public declaration of my sentiments
at so critical a moment, when my accidental presence in England
had enabled me to state them with convenience, and possibly
not wholly without effect, I could only account for the omission
by acknowledging an apprehension that by openly expressing
my opinions upon a public question, however respectfully, I
might incur the displeasure of the Government, and that I had
therefore been silent ; a reason which, if it should have become
necessary to give it, would not have done honour to the Govern-
ment, or to myself. ... I shall bear, as cheerfully as others, my
individual share of whatever consequences may flow from those
measures which Parliament shall ultimately adopt, after the
question has been presented, in all its aspects, to their considera-
tion ; but I could never patiently bear the reproach which I
should feel I deserved, if, at such a moment, I refrained from
communicating freely to others the apprehensions which I now
teel so strongly myself.

ix CANADA— THE CANADA KILL, 247

Probably he was also influenced in publishing it
by another reason, viz., that the Legislative Council
of Upper Canada had, on 4th April 1839, passed a
resolution adverse to the union, and in forwarding it
to him requested him to bring the affairs of the
province under the notice of the Crown, and " gener-
ally represent the interests of the province."

Commenting on the course he took, Mr. Fennings
Taylor,1 writing in 1865, says: —

He did what was expected of him and he did it well. The
practical separation which has since taken place of the provinces
whose union he sought to avert, should, we think, be accepted
as a compliment to his sagacity and foresight.

By this Mr. Taylor probably means that the two
provinces, though they remained officially one until
the Confederation Act of 1867, had, when he wrote,
owing to divergent aims and interests, become prac-
tically two. As to this see pp. 263-265 of this
book.

"Canada and the Canada Bill" was a pamphlet
more than a book — a small work of 200 pages — and
was, as we have said before, a detailed examination
of the provisions of the Union Bill of 20th June 1839
based upon the Durham report, not of the Bill as
it became an Act on 23rd July 1840, which was
freed from many of the original provisions to which
both my father and the Legislature of Canada had
alike and independently objected.

The 7V///c.v, in reviewing the pamphlet, said :—

We feel warranted in saying, though without absolutely
committing ourselves to the opinions of the author, that it
contains a larger stock of useful and authentic information in

1 " Portraits of British Americans," by Fennings Taylor (1865).

248 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

regard to the present position, wants, and prospects of that
colony than any other production on the same subject we have
happened to meet with.

The Union Bill, upon which it commented, stated
in its preamble that, in order to provide for the
future good government of Canada, it was expedient
that—

(1) The provinces of Upper and Lower Canada

should be reunited and form one province
for the purposes of executive government
and legislation.

(2) That — for the protection of local interests —

this province should be divided into dis-
tricts, each with a District Council.

(3) That the county of Gaspe and the Magdalen

Islands (which formed part of Lower
Canada) should be annexed to New Bruns-
wick.

The various clauses of the Bill provided for the
manner in which these measures were to be carried
out in detail, and were of course framed with a view
to facilitate the working of the main measure of the
Bill— the Union.

In order to understand the character of the Bill,
it is necessary to mention that there were to be five
districts in United Canada.

Every district, in addition to having a " District
Council," was to be divided into nine electoral
divisions.

The districts and electoral divisions were not laid
down in the Bill, but were left to be afterwards
formed by the award of arbitrators, subject to the

ix THE UNION BILL 340

principle that the number of electoral divisions should
be as nearly as possible equal in each of the old
provinces of Upper and Lower Canada.

Some twenty clauses of the Bill related to the
formation of these District Councils, to which much
importance was attached, as extending local govern-
ment. They were to be more than ordinary muni-
cipal bodies managing purely local concerns; were,
under certain restrictions, to be entrusted with large
powers ; and were to be in some sense more like
district parliaments or minor legislatures, subordinate
to the Provincial Legislature.

They were to be permitted to pass ordinances for
the making of railways and canals, \c., in the district,
to impose tolls on local works, and taxes on real and
personal property, in order to raise a revenue for the
salaries of district officials, and to meet other expenses
connected with district government, while none of
their ordinances were to be valid if they were repug-
nant to, or impeded, the operation of any Act of the
Provincial Legislature.

The arbitrators who were to settle the division
into districts were to lay down what portion of the
revenue should form the consolidated revenue of the
united province, and what be devoted to local pur-
poses ; also to determine the civil list and how it
should be appropriated ; none of which important
matters were settled in the Bill itself.

The constitution of the Legislative Council (the
Upper House) was to be materially changed, power
being given to commit to the Governor of the pro-
vince the appointment of members, which had before
rested with the Crown ; the tenure of the office of
legislative councillor was to be limited to eight years

250 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

instead of being for life ; no property qualification for
members was laid down ; the old title of " Speaker "
of the Council was to be altered to " President," and
the Colonial Parliament was to be empowered to
pass laws respecting the time and place of holding
sessions of the Legislature, its prorogation and
dissolution, which had hitherto been the prerogative
of the Crown.

I should be considered tedious were I to enter
here at greater length than I have above into the pro-
visions of the Bill of 1839, apart from its principal
one — the u Union."

All those which I have mentioned were objected
to by my father, and have now comparatively little
interest, because, owing to the representations of
others as well as his remonstrances, they were in
great part withdrawn ; but, at the time the Bill was
introduced, some were of much importance, as upon
their working the success or failure of the main
measure largely depended.

In case any should, however, wish to know the
grounds upon which my father's objections were
based, I have given several of these (for I have not
room for all), taken from " Canada and the Canada
Bill" in the Appendix (A., v.).

Any one caring to turn to the Union Act of
1840, the Bill of 1839, and my father's views ex-
pressed in " Canada and the Canada Bill," will see
how materially the Bill of 1839, apart from its main
principle of the union, was modified in the direction
of his views before it passed into law.

In all from twenty to thirty alterations, of more
than a mere verbal character, urged by him as desir-
able, in the sixty odd clauses of the Bill, were intro-

ix THE UNION BILL 251

duced into the Act of 1840 ; and several omissions,
to which he had drawn attention, were inserted.

The new districts, district Councils, and elec-
toral divisions, with the settlement of questions by
arbitration, found no place in the Act of 1840.

The division of the country for purposes of
representation was all detailed in the Act itself.

The clause empowering the delegation to the
Governor of the province of the appointment of
legislative councillors was altered; the tenure of
their seats was made for life; the qualifications to
render them eligible were modified ; the old title of
" Speaker " was retained.

A small qualification in real estate for members
of both Houses was laid down.

The power to prorogue and dissolve the Legislature
was confined to the Governor — not vested in the
1 .egislature.

The omissions pointed out as to Courts of Appeal
and other matters were supplied.

»(ias]>e was not detached from Lower Canada, and
her Majesty was empowered to annex the Magdalen
Islands to the Island of Prince Edward.

In short, of the three measures which the pre-
amble to the Bill stated to be expedient two were
altogether abandoned.

My father must have been glad to see that the
House of Assembly in Upper Canada, when passing
at a later date the Union Bill of 1840, recommended
to their consideration by Mr. Poulett-Thompson,
accompanied their assent to the measure with an
address to the Queen, of which the following is an
extract :—

252 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

It is with the most sincere satisfaction that this House has
received from your Majesty's representative the assurance that
the Bill introduced into the House of Commons during the
last session of the Imperial Legislature (i.e. in 1839), is not to
be considered as embodying the provisions which may hereafter
be adopted by the Imperial Parliament — and that it is his
Excellency's intention to recommend to her Majesty's Govern-
ment, in the new measure that must be introduced, to adhere
as much as possible to existing territorial divisions for electoral
purposes, and to maintain the principle of the Constitutional
Act of 1791 with regard to the tenure of seats in the Legislative
Council (i.e. that they should be for life). We further respect-
fully submit the necessity of providing that the members of
the Legislature should possess a stake in the country equal to
that now required by the laws of this province.

With regard to the chief measure of the Bill of
1839, viz., the " Union," which he unsuccessfully
opposed, there is no doubt that the problem which
it was hoped to solve — viz., the provision of a govern-
ment under the supremacy of the British Crown
which would, in the words of the Bill, " best secure
the rights and liberties and promote the interests
of all classes" — was, under the then circumstances
of Canada, an exceptionally difficult one.

Sir Robert Peel, speaking in the House of Com-
mons, said, " I defy any person, with a full considera-
tion of all that has passed in Canada, to frame a
Government which shall be totally free from
danger ; " and it was very uncertain how any scheme
which had a practical chance of acceptance at this
period, both in Canada and the Imperial Parlia-
ment, would succeed in attaining the objects sought.
" Confederation " has since taken the place of the
partial union of 1840 (i.e. of the two provinces of
Canada only), and so there is no ground to regret

ix THE r\I()\ HILL 253

that the latter union was first adopted ; but in the
scheme of uniting English and French Canada alone,
without including the other North American Pro-
vinces, grave difficulties and risks were involved,
which made its safety and success most doubtful.

In addition to that of linking together two pro-
vinces in which the mass of the people differed in
language, laws, and religion, and whose antagonisms,
prejudices, and jealousies had been embittered by the
recent events of the Rebellion, there was the necessity
of securing in the Legislature of the united province
British ascendency and loyalty to the Crown ; in
other words, that the Assembly returned to represent
the united provinces should not be so composed as to
endanger British interests in a British colony.

Both those who supported the Union Bill and
those who opposed it were equally decided upon this
head.

Lord Durham, in his report, uses these words : —

It must henceforth be the first and steady purpose of the
British Government to establish an English population with
English laws and language in this (the Lower) province, and to
trust its government to none but a decidedly English legis-
lature.

It has been aptly written by a well-known pen :—

Lord Durham's policy for French nationality was extinction.
This, he fancied, would be accomplished by the union of the
provinces, which would bring the weaker race under the direct
pressure of the stronger. He did not calculate on party
divisions in the stronger race, which gave the key to the popular
situation in the Quebec vote.1

1 Article by "Bystander" in the Toronto Wrrkly ,S//W, l!»th September
1900,

254 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

But in my father's opinion it was by no means
the French Canadians alone who had been the
originators of the troubles of Canada.

For my own part, he says (alluding to a passage in Lord
Durham's report), I think that their assumed settled bitter
and permanent hostility to their British fellow-subjects has
been too much dwelt upon as the inevitable consequence of the
difference of races. I believe that for years and years after the
conquest, hatred of their fellow-subjects, and of their govern-
ment, was not an active or settled principle in the minds of the
Canadian peasantry.

The French Canadian leaders were not the only agents in
producing these troubles. They had able assistants and
instructors, neither did they succeed without great difficulty,
nor until a long course of persevering agitation.

He thought that they would never have suc-
ceeded at all,

had the Government in England shown that firmness, without
which no Government will ever have credit with the ignorant
and the prejudiced for believing itself to be in the right.

In his view the danger to the future tranquillity
of Canada lay fully as much in politicians of British
origin joining for political purposes with French
malcontents ; and that it was therefore essential to
provide a Legislature for the united province in which
British influence should be so dominant as to make
it hardly possible that any unreasonable British
minority should attain to power by the aid of the
French vote.

There were very divergent opinions as to the way
in which the desired British influence could be best

ix VIEWS AS TO CONFEDERATION 25fl

secured. Many who were in favour of the union of
the two provinces of Canada, and saw no dan^vr
in that, were opposed to the further extension of the
union so as to include all the British North Ameri-
can Provinces.

Thus we find Sir \Vilinot Horton, in 1839,1 quot-
ing as follows from the Montreal Gazette, to show that
opinion in Canada was opposed to such an extension : —

At a public meeting held here (Montreal), the comparative
merits of both unions (i.e. of the two Canadas only and of all
the North American Colonies) were placed in the balance. . . .

There was not a member of the meeting who had one word
to say in its (the federal scheme's) favour.

Nature, reason, and experience are totally adverse to
idea of Mich a scheme.

At this meeting Mr. Day, Q.C., >aid : " A confederation of
the provinces is a useless piece of machinery — the confedera-
tion could not exist for ten years without a separation from
the parent State taking place."

And Mr. Henry Bliss, Q.C., writes thus in
England:*

\Vhat would be the powers, what the object of a federa-
tive Legislature in those Colonies — the proposal has no friends
or supporters in any quarter of the Colonies. It is deprecated

an utter mistake, at variance with their wants and wishes,
inconsistent with their relations to each other and to the parent
kingdom, and involving repugnances and embarrassments fatal
to any practical purpose.

It is very striking, indeed, in reading the history
of these times, to see how many there were — possibly

1 "Exposition and Defence of Earl Bathurst's Administration, and
Thoughts on the Present Crisis in the Canadas," 2nd edition (1839).

2 " F.s-ay on the Reconstruction of Her Majesty's Government in
Canada." hy Henry Bliss, Q.C., of the Inner Temple (1839).

256 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

from having before their mind the history of the
British Colonies which subsequently rebelled and be-
came the United States, and the Rebellion of 1837-
1838 — who looked upon a separation of all Colonies
from the Mother Country as merely a matter of time,
and upon their federation as only hastening that time.

There were others, however, and among them
Lord Durham himself, who were not insensible to
the advantage of a union of all the provinces, but
considered it impracticable or undesirable at the
moment.

In his report, Lord Durham says :—

While I convince myself that such desirable ends (removing
the troubles of Canada) would be secured by the legislative
union of the two provinces (alone), I am inclined to go further
and inquire whether all these objects could not be more surely
attained by extending this legislative union over all the British
provinces in North America.

He considered, however, that circumstances
would not then admit of such a union, and that
other measures must be taken without delay. He
therefore recommended that the union of the two
Canadas alone, under one Legislature and as one
Province, should be at once carried out.

Lord Durham explains that the union he had in
view was a " legislative union," i.e. the complete
incorporation of the provinces under one Legislature
exercising all powers of legislation throughout (as
in the case of the British Isles) ; not a federal
union, such as the present Dominion, where the
Federal Legislature exercises power in matters of
general concern, but the Provincial Legislatures in
matters of purely provincial and local concern.

ix VIEWS AS TO CONFEDERATION

My father was not entirely in agreement with
either of the above opposing views.

He looked upon a confederation of all the British-
American Provinces, with the enlargement of British
influence and ascendency in the Government which
it would necessarily bring with it, as the best
remedy for the troubles of Canada, and a far more
effective one than the union of Upper and Lower
Canada only.

He had no fears that this would endanger British
connection, but held that it would strengthen it.1
He did not concur with Lord Durham in his con-
viction that the end desired "would be secured
by the union of the two provinces" merely; antici-
pating that this partial union would lead to a situa-
tion under which the government of the country,
consistently with British interests, could not be
carried on.

The union he wished to see was (to quote his
own words) • •

A confederacy of provinces, erected into a kingdom,3 and
under the government of a Viceroy, the executive
government and local legislatures of the different provinces
remaining as they are, except that the functions of the latter
would be necessarily confined to objects purely local.

In the following passage in " Canada and the
Canada Bill" he clearly states what he anticipated

Mis remarks on this subject in 1822 (chap. vi.).

2 Letter to Lord Batliurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies (l:
subsequently published. (See chap, vi.')

3 It is interesting to read in the Life of Sir John Macdonald, by
Mr. Joseph Pope, how desirous he was that the new Confederation in
1867 should be styled the "Kingdom of Canada." That it was not so
he considered •• a threat opportunity missed" towards hastening Imperial
federation throughout the British dominions.

B

258 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

would be the effect of uniting Upper and Lower
Canada alone : —

I greatly apprehend (whatever advantages might be reason-
ably expected from a legislative union of the four North
American Colonies, if that were found practicable, and con-
sidering the character of the population of Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick) that the effect of uniting the two provinces of
Canada only will be to create a representative assembly such
as the Government will be unable to withstand, except by
measures which it is painful to anticipate ; that it may, at
the very outset, and will certainly at no distant period, give
existence to a representative body in which the majority will
not merely be opposed in the common spirit of party to any
colonial governor who shall not be unfaithful to his trust, but
a majority which would be held together by a common desire
to separate the colony from the Crown — a party, consequently,
whom it will be impossible to conciliate by any concession
within the bounds of right. ... If the two provinces be
united I fear that we shall see jealousy, rivalry, and national
antipathy working their mischief through a wider range. In
times of political excitement we should have opposition to the
Government producing the same troubles and embarrassments
to both provinces, and, at length, concessions which would
prove ruinous to both.

He writes thus also with respect to the proposed
measure :—

It is well known that this (the union of Upper and Lower
Canada only) is not altogether a new project.

The idea of giving but one Legislature to the two provinces
of Canada was seriously entertained in 1822, when the present
Sir Wilmot Horton, then Under-Secretary of State for the
Colonies, brought in a bill for that purpose.

It may probably be remarked that the intended measure,
being abandoned and not carried, the result has been a re-
bellion in both provinces ; but the answer is not less obvious.
It is true that there has been a formidable rebellion in Lower

m\

ix UNION OF CAN AD AS ONLY 259

Canada, but not because the Government failed to apply the
suggested remedy of the union ; the security against siu-li a
misfortune lay in measures of another kind, much more easy
of adoption, and much more certain in their effect.1 It is true
also that there was a rebellion in Upper Canada ; but it was
a movement contrived and conducted by those very persons
whom a union would most probably have placed in the United
Assembly.

In 1822 I did, at the request of the Colonial Department,
express at some length my opinions upon a plan which many
years before had been suggested from another quarter, and I
ventured to add some propositions of my own.

I thought that I saw certain advantages in such a policy,
and I believed then, as I still believe, that there was little in
the apprehensions which ni.-mv entertained that such a union
would enable and dispose the Colonies to combine together in
opposition to the Mother Country.

That I think is forbidden by their relative geographical
position, and there are other reasons which satisfy me that
the fear need not be entertained.

My father did not think that the provision in the
Union Bill, giving an equal number of representatives
in the joint Legislature to each of the old provinces
of Upper and Lower Canada, would suffice to fully
secure British interests.

His opinion in 1822 (see chap, vi.) had heen
that were the proposal for a confederation of the
British-American Provinces put fully before the
people (which he contended it never had been), it
would be favourably received ; in short, that it merely
wanted a full discussion.

But now (in 1839) the state of the Canadas, con-
sequent upon the Rebellion, had caused many in the

1 My father here and in the next few paragraph- alludes to his advocacy
of the confederation of all the provinces in l»JL'. He then also opposed
the partial union. (See chap, vi.)

260 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

other provinces to be disinclined to join them, and
this being the case, my father advocated, as preferable
to a union of the two Canadas alone, an alteration
of the boundary line between the Upper and Lower
Province.

Kingsford, in his " History of Canada," (vol. x.
p. 200) referring to the various propositions as to the
union brought forward in 1839, says : —

The propositions of Sir John Beverley Robinson, and the
men he represented, foreshadowed confederation. . . . The
proposal was to unite the four provinces for the purposes of
general legislation only, leaving them in other respects as
they were, retaining their Legislatures and distinct autonomy
— the plan ultimately adopted in the present constitution.

These propositions Mr. Kingsford, speaking of
those of my father and others as a whole, regards as
having been unjust to Lower Canada, no doubt on
account of the suggested alteration of the boundary
line.

But my father, whatever may have been the
propositions of others, did not propose any alteration
of boundary in the event of confederation.

It was not to a federation of all the provinces,
which he had always and earnestly advocated, but
solely to the union of the two Canadas alone that
my father preferred it.

He proposed that, in lieu of running the risks
which he believed would be incurred in the more
partial union, the boundary line should be altered.
To quote his own words —

So as to embrace the Island of Montreal with some of the
territory on the opposite side of the St. Lawrence and all
the lands on the south-west side of the Ottawa ; to make the

ix UNION OF CANADAS ONLY 2C1

added territory a new county of Upper ('aimda, giving it in
all respect* the same laws, and providing tor it.s representation
in the Assembly upon a just scale as compared with the other
of Upper Canada — leaving the rest of Lower Canada,
with or without Gaspc as mav be thought best, to be governed
as at present, for a limited time, not less than ten years, but
under an amended constitution as regards the composition,
proceedings, and powers of the special Council ;

Or, after annexing Montreal and the contiguous territory
to Upper Canada, as above proposed, to restore to Lower
Canada its Assembly and Legislative Council so soon as tran-
quillitv shall have been perfectly re-established, and an adequate
civil list been provided for the support of the Government.

And (he continues) :—

It is but just to remember that Upper Canada was made
a separate colony in order that tho>e who might choose to
settle in it might be free from anything which might appeal-
unfavourable to their welfare in the laws or condition of the
other province.

It is deeplv to be regretted that, for the purpose of including
in Lower Canada the whole of the French population, the line
of division was (in 1791) carried up the- river St. Lawrence
to that point where the English settlements commenced — or
about sixty miles above Montreal, to which town and no
farther the St. Lawrence is navigable for ships — thus excluding
Upper Canada from the free enjoyment of a seaport.

But I cannot see with what justice those who administered
the government of this country in 1791 can be said to have
acted unwisely in having divided that immense province.1

The two provinces united would form a territory much too
large to be conveniently and safely ruled by one executive
Government.

Would it have been a wise, a safe, or a justifiable remedy

1 This division he considered a necessity under the circumstances of
that day, and gives his reasons at length for that opinion. His arguments
applied with comparatively greater force in 183!) than they do now, when
railways, steam, and the telegraph have made communication much easier
—but they still apply.

262 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

to have proposed for the troubled state of Ireland in 1796
that it should be united with Scotland alone, and one Legis-
lature given to the two kingdoms, with the right of almost
universal suffrage? I think the people of Scotland would
have had the sagacity to perceive that they were being made
rather an unfair use of.

In the case of the union with Ireland, the laws of that
country did not lose the support nor its inhabitants the
convenience of an executive Government easily accessible —
and even in the case of Scotland the same thing may be said.
Though its individuality was not preserved, Scotland is still
Scotland.

It exists as a separate country ; but the effect of this Bill
would be to confound all distinction of territory, and to make
the whole of Canada one province under one Government.

I conclude here my quotations from " Canada
and the Canada Bill." Whether an alteration of the
boundary line between the two Canadas — a measure
which also had its drawbacks — would have answered
as well as, or better than, the partial union did,
must always remain a matter of opinion, for the
expedient was never tried ; but what my father was
convinced of was that it would be impracticable
to keep the two Canadas united and carry on the
Government consistently with British interests, with-
out that incorporation of the other British provinces
which was not then acceptable.

The Law Journal of Upper Canada, adverting
to the part taken by him in publishing " Canada and
the Canada Bill," says :-

The independent spirit and true patriotism evinced by Sir
John Robinson upon this occasion is entitled to the greatest
praise. By the manner in which he wrote he placed himself
in direct antagonism to the views of the Governor and his
advisers.

ix EFFECT OF THE I'NION

Four years after the passing of the Union Ac
1840, my father wrote to Sir Charles Metcalfe:—

\Uh Mnrrf, l»44.

I have been told that your Excellency desired to .see the
observations made by me upon the projected union of tin-
Canadas. I did intend to have sent it 1 before, but I thought
it not very probable that you would find time to give it a
perusal.

The Hill commented upon, as your Excellency will perceive,
was that presented by Lord J. Russell in 18:$!), and printed
by order of the House of Commons.

When the measure \\a> presented again in 1840, the Hill
was altered in very many of the particulars upon which I had
remarked, so that much said by me in this little book is not
applicable to the details of the present Act — though it may
have had some effect in making the Union Act what it now is.

My distrust of the measure, I confess, continues, and most
heartily glad I shall be if, after five years more have elapx-d.
any one who has found a stray copy of my pamphlet shall
be able to conclude satisfactorily that my worst apprehensions
were groundless.

To show that these apprehensions were not ground-
less, but that serious dangers and embarrassments
occurred under the Government created by the
union, I may, I think, appeal to history. More
than one writer upon Canadian subjects has alluded
to these. I quote the following from Mr. John
Dent's "Canada since the Union of 1841," vol. ii.
p. 439, referring to the year 1864 : —

Public affairs were literally at a deadlock. Both parties
had tried in vain to carry on the government of the country.
Successive dissolutions and elections had served no purpose
except to intensify the spirit of faction, and to array the
contending parties more bitterly against each other. The

1 AlluiU's to "Canada and the Canada Bill," containing these
observations.

264 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

state of affairs seemed hopeless, for the Constitution itself
was manifestly unequal to the task imposed upon it.

I will also add extracts from another historian,
Mr. MacMullen.1 He says, speaking of the excite-
ment attending the debates upon the Rebellion Losses
Bill (1849), which preceded the riots and burning
of the Houses of Parliament in Montreal—

To escape from French domination, as it was termed, the
more violent Tory members of the Conservative party declared
that they were prepared to go any lengths — even to annexation
with the United States, a measure which in the passionate
excitement of the moment was openly advocated. It was a
rash proceeding, and forms a mortifying epoch in the history of
Canadian parties.

Again, alluding to the year 1859, Mr. MacMullen
says : —

In November a great gathering of the leaders of the Reform
party took place at Toronto.

The conclusion was arrived at that the union of Upper and
Lower Canada had failed to realise the intentions of its pro-
moters, that the constitution itself was defective, and that the
formation of two or more local Governments with some joint
authority over all had now become a paramount necessity.

Again, describing the absolute deadlock which
occurred in the working of the Government in 1864,

he says :—

Faction had now literally exhausted itself. The public
affairs of the country were completely at a standstill, and for
the moment it seemed as if constitutional government had
finally ended in a total failure.

Repeated changes of Cabinets had been tried, dissolutions
of Parliament had been resorted to, every constitutional specific

1 MacMullen's " History of Canada," pp. 506-507, 549, 570-571, 589.

,

ix EFFECT OF THE UNION 265

had been tested, but all alike had failed to unravel the Gordian
knot which party spirit had tied >o firmly round the destinies
of this province.

The public stood aghast at this state of things, while the
lovers of British constitutional government regarded the
extraordinary situation with unlimited dismay. . . . The
leading minds of the country naturally applied themselvt
this juncture to discover some mode of escape from the danger-
ous difficulties of the public situation. . . .

. . . The negotiations which now ensued between the rival
political leaders speedily resulted in a satisfactory under-
standing, based upon a project of confederation of all the
British North American Provinces, on the federal principle,
and leaving to each province the settlement by local legislation of
its own municipal and peculiar affairs. . . . Thus a strong Coali-
tion Government was formed to carry out the newly accepted
policy of confederation, and though extreme parties here and
there grumbled at these arrangements, the great body of the
people of all shades of opinion, thankful that the dangerous
crisis had been safely passed, gladly accepted the situation and
calmly and confidently awaited the progress of events. Never
before had a coalition been more opportune. It would seem
indeed as if a special Providence was controlling matters for
own wise purposes. . . .

Mius the threatening peril was averted, and — to
quote for the last time on this subject —

The great project of confederation was (on the 20th May
1867) at length finally and happily completed, and the morning
voice of a new people (the Dominion of Canada) was heard
among the nations of the earth.

What might have been the result of the state of
matters above described, had the partial union con-
tinued longer, and the able and patriotic statesman-
ship of Sir John Macdonald or some later statesman
been unable at a time of difficulty to carry through
the scheme of confederation, who shall say ?

266 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

By the Confederation Act l the Dominion of
Canada was divided into four distinct provinces, viz.,
Ontario (formerly Upper Canada), Quebec (formerly
Lower Canada), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick —
each province to have its separate Legislature for
local purposes, and the existing limits of each to
remain undisturbed.

To these, since 1867, have been added Prince
Edward Island, British Columbia, and Manitoba,
with the North-West Provinces.

In what I have said above, it has not been my
object to imply that any of the proposals short of
a larger confederation than that of the two Canadas
would certainly have been attended with greater
success than the smaller union.

This no one can say. There were drawbacks to
all, such as would possibly have led to opposition and
failure. The partial union also had, together with
its drawbacks and dangers, this advantage — that it
prepared the public mind for the larger and more
complete measure.

My desire has been simply to show in what my
father's objections to the " Union Bill " of 23rd June
1839, as urged in " Canada and the Canada Bill,"
consisted, and to point out that, with the exception
of the main measure of the union, the alterations
which he advised in this Bill, and which were many,
were nearly all adopted before it became an Act in
1840 ; that the embarrassment and danger which he
anticipated from the main measure itself, i.e. of the
union of the two provinces only, were not imaginary
but very real ; that the solution of them was happily

1 Styled " The British North America Act, 1867."

ix COLONIAL POLICY -J67

sought in the Confederation of all the British pro-
vinces, a measure the assumed dangers of which he
had never dreaded, which he had long considered the
best solution, and which he had in vain strenuously
advocated forty-five years before it was adopted.

So much is due to his memory.

Whether before his death in January 1863, he
had convinced himself, from the trend of public
opinion in its favour, that the larger scheme of
Confederation would be certainly carried out, as it
was four years afterwards, in 1867, I cannot say,
but as he had always so earnestly advocated the
measure I hope this may have been so.

After ceasing, in 1841, to have any connection
with politics, his judicial duties entirely absorbed his
time and thoughts, and I cannot recollect his ever
speaking upon this matter.

In 1849, the North American League was formed
in Toronto to promote the measure, and in 1854 (also
in 1861) Nova Scotia passed resolutions in favour
of it.

In 1859 the Governor-General of Canada stated,
on opening Parliament, that the project of a union
of all British North America had formed the subject
of a correspondence wTith the Home Government.
But it was not until 1863, a few months after my
father's death, that Canada joined with Nova Scotia
and the Maritime Provinces to urge its adoption.

I give here a memorandum — of which the rough
draft was found among his papers — bearing upon the
Colonial policy of the Home Government as to the
North American Colonies existing about the time of
his death, and which may be said to now prevail.
This was evidently written by him about the time

268 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

that the policy of withdrawing the Imperial troops
from Canada — afterwards carried out — was generally
spoken of as that of the Home Government : 1-

The British Government, by their conduct since 1840,
seem to say this to the North American Colonies :

You are large countries, growing very rapidly, and sure to
contain before long some millions of inhabitants.

We believe that whenever it may suit you to rebel, you
will rebel.

We are resolved not to add millions to our national debt
by attempting to maintain your connection with us by force,
especially at the expense of a war with your powerful neigh-
bours, which such a struggle would probably lead to.

If you are ever to separate, we had rather you separated
before we spend more millions on maintaining troops and
garrisons among you.

Moreover, we have no dread about hastening the period of
separation, because we take a different view now from that
which used to be taken of the uses and advantages of colonies.

We now believe that there ought to be no friendship in
trade. We are convinced that both we and you should buy
and sell wherever we can do it to the most advantage, and that
we should allow any one to carry for us cheaper than we can
carry for each other, and for ourselves.

In order then that you may see the sooner your true position,
we will begin the separation on our part by rebelling against
the principle of mutual obligation, which has hitherto been
held to be the consequence of allegiance.

We shall withdraw our troops from the Colonies, and pay
no part of the expense attending the maintenance of a connec-
tion which we look upon as no affair of ours, but one that
only concerns you.

All that we propose to do hereafter is to appoint your
Governor as we have hitherto done, and as we do not intend

1 Though the policy of making the self-governing colonies responsible
for their own defence was introduced about 1862, the troops were not
actually withdrawn from Canada till 1870.

ix COLONIAL POLICY 269

him to perform any of the functions of government for the
Colony (but to be merely our agent for reporting to us what is
done by the Assembly, whom we intend shall be the ivul rulers),
we shall not object to paying his salary onr>el\r-.

He will be instructed by us to let the majority do as they
like, unless they should plainly propose to break the connection
with the Mother Country, in which case any Bill which shall be
presented to them for such a purpose is to be reserved for our
consideration, and not assented to at once — the probability,
however, being that we should not disallow it.

Such is now the colonial relation, and such is the disposi-
tion ot mankind, that I question whether, after all, the connec-
tion may not endure longer under such an understanding than
under any other.

An impatient horse, tied near a precipice, will pull and
struggle in all directions to get free, not regarding the risk he
may run of precipitating himself over the brink. But if he
were turned out to provide for himself, he would be in no such
danger. He would gra/.e near the edge, but having nothing to
pull against, and being left at liberty to go where he pleased,
he would not choose to break his neck.

Evidently he did not anticipate that the new
policy would tend to separation.

With what pleasure he would have seen the
British provinces forming the Dominion of Canada
to-day !

Confederated, contented, prosperous, with their
value more and more appreciated by the Mother
Country, and evincing a loyalty and devotion to her
in war and peace which the trials and responsibilities
born of empire have served only to deepen and
strengthen !

CHAPTER X

JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE IN ENGLAND
OCTOBER 1838 TO DECEMBER 1839

English interest in Canadian questions — Visits to Sir F. Head and Sir
Robert Peel — Letter from the latter — Destruction of St. James'
Church, Toronto — Durham report— Visit to Sir Wilmot Horton —
Mrs. Jameson's book — Interview with the Duke of Wellington —
Defences of Canada, &c. — Views of 1822 as to the union unchanged
— The Queen's ladies — Resignation of the Ministry — Apsley House —
Appointed by Legislative Council to represent interests of Canada —
Dinner with Cordwainers' Company — Sir W. Follett and Lord
Lyndhurst as to American prisoners — Interview with Lord Normanby
and Lord J. Russell — Soiree at Thomas Campbell's — Consecration of
Dr. Strachan — Letter from Sir George Arthur — Obtains extension of
leave.

MY father's journal and correspondence while in
England between 1838 and 1840 — from which
in the next two chapters I give many extracts-^-
show that his time and thoughts were almost
continuously occupied throughout this period with
public questions connected with the Canadas then
under the consideration of the Imperial Govern-
ment : such as the recommendations of the Durham
report, and the proposed union of the Upper and
Lower Provinces ; the Clergy Reserves ; and the
course to be pursued with the American prisoners
taken in the Canadian Rebellion. What I have said
in previous chapters will, I hope, enable his references
to these subjects to be now fully understood.

Although colonial matters sixty years ago aroused
far less interest in England in ordinary times than
they do at the present day, the circumstances of the

270

ENGLISH INTEREST IN CANADA J7 1

moment had brought Canadian subjects into excep-
tional prominence there.

The course which leading men in politics — Sir
Robert Peel, the Duke of Wellington, Lord .John
Russell, Lord Lyndhurst, and others — would take
upon Canadian questions, and the possibility of the
defeat of the Ministry upon its Canadian policy, were
the subjects of discussion in public and private ; the
attention of those in political life was much directed
to them ; and it was felt that with the future ad-
ministration of the British-American Colonies im-
portant Imperial interests were bound up.

The views of Sir Robert Peel as to the union of
the Upper and Lower Provinces of Canada were not
disclosed for a long time, but eventually he advocated
it. The Duke of Wellington and Lord Lyndhurst
opposed it ; Lord John Russell, who had introduced
the Bill in June 1839, was its leading supporter.

Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his " Life of Welling-
ton," says :—

The course taken by Sir Robert Peel on the union of the
Canaclas was the occasion of a fresh difference (with the Duke
of Wellington), and all intercourse L ceased between them.

My father's presence in England at this period,
and his knowledge of and position in Canada, led to
his being constantly referred to upon Canadian topics
by members of the Government and others.

He had several times to come up to London from
Cheltenham, Brighton, &c., to keep appointments at
the Colonial Office and with public men.

It was often with inconvenience and some risk to

1 The meaning of this, no doubt, is that all intercourse for a time
ceased between them.

272 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

himself that these journeys were made, as his health,
especially at first, was far from good, and he really
required rest and freedom from work ; but when he
thought he might be of use to Canada by imparting
the information which he possessed to those who
desired and had a right to obtain it, he never spared
himself.

Sometimes he came to town alone, leaving his
family in the country, and sometimes with my mother
and others.

Much attention, both of a public and private
character, was shown to him in London, particularly
by the Duke of Wellington, who was thoroughly
versed in all Canadian matters, and the kindness and
hospitality he met with as coming from Canada were
unbounded.

As everything associated with the great Duke has
an interest of its own, I have quoted rather largely in
this chapter from my father's references to conversa-
tions, &c., with him.

To Sir Robert Peel he paid two visits at Drayton
Manor.

He received great kindness from Sir Robert
Harry Inglis, member for Oxford, a strong Conser-
vative and earnest Churchman, widely known and
respected by men of all shades of opinion, and whose
friendship he especially valued.1

Sir Wilmot Horton he met constantly, their ac-
quaintance having been kept up since 1822, when he
was Mr. Wilmot, and its cordiality not having been
lessened by their difference of view as to the union.

He was also often with Lord Lyndhurst, whom

1 See entry in my father's Journal for 5th May 1855, chap. xiv.

x CHELTENHAM— LONDON _>;:>>

he had met in previous years, when Mr. Copley ;
witli the Bishop of Exeter (Phillpotts) ; Mr. (after-
wards Sir John) Pakington,1 Lord Seaton, Sir
Francis Head, and Sir Peregrine Maitlaml, all of
whom were then in England, and naturally deeply
interested in Canadian topics.

With some of the above, a correspondence more
or less constant was kept up by him throughout
life.

When he reached England, the Merrys, my
mother's relations, were at 5 Lansdowne Terrace,
Cheltenham, where they lived when not at High-
lands in Berkshire, and this led to his going first to
Cheltenham, where he took a house (7 Lansdowne
Place), and then reported himself personally at the
Colonial Office. Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State
for the Colonies, being out of London, he returned
to Cheltenham, and, in December 1838, was vet-
ting out with my mother and two of my sisters
for Atherstone in Warwickshire upon a visit to Sir
Francis and Lady Head, when a request was re-
ceived from Lord Glenelg that, if his health per-
mitted, he would come to town immediately,
the mail steamer, taking official letters to Canada.
with reference to which he wished to see him, was
to sail in three or four day^.

Leaving the others at Birmingham to go on
without him to Atherstone, he took the train thence
to London.

These were the early days of railways. The
journey - - 113 miles — owing to unexpected and

1 Mr. 1'akinirtcMi was created a baronet in 1846, and raised to the
peerage as Lord Hampton in 1H74 ; died 1880.

274 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

vexatious delays, took many hours longer than had
been anticipated, and he did not reach town till
midnight.

I was very cold, he writes in his Journal, and not being well,
suffered a good deal.

After seeing Lord Glenelg and Sir George Grey,
he called upon Lord Durham in Cleveland Row and
had a short conversation with him.

He looked ill and anxious, and talked chiefly of past occur-
rences which had occasioned him to return, and did not seem
inclined to enter into any account of what measures he intended
to recommend.

When, after this, he had rejoined my mother at
Sir Francis Head's, Sir Robert Peel invited both him
and Sir Francis to dine and stay the night at Drayton
Manor, about eight miles from Ather stone.

Writing to Dr. Strachan on 24th January 1839,
he mentions this visit : —

Sir Robert was quite alone, except Lady Peel, and a re-
markably fine family of children.

We sat up till twelve o'clock, talking of Canada principally,
and returned to Atherstone about midday the next day. Be-
fore I left him he expressed a wish that I should pay him
another visit the following week, when, he said, he expected the
Duke of Wellington.

On that occasion I spent two nights, and nearly three days
there. The Duke was detained at home by a cold, but Lord
Sandon, Lord Stanley, the Duke of Rutland, General Alava,
Lord Hill, Mr. Arbuthnot, Lord Wilton, Sir Henry Hardinge,
Lord Fitz Roy Somerset, and several others were there. My
visit was made agreeable in every way, though I was not well
enough to join in any amusement out of doors.

Of those mentioned above, Lord Hill, Sir Henry

x SIR ROBERT PEEL 275

Hardinge, and Lord Fitz Roy Somerset (afterwards
Lord Raglan) are well known in connection with
the campaigns of the Peninsula, India, and the
Crimea. Mr. Arbuthnot was private secretary to
the Duke of Wellington and lived much with him.
General Alava was a Spanish officer of distinction,
who having been attached to the British head-
quarters at Waterloo, and also fought in the Spanish
navy at Trafalgar, is said to have been the only
individual known to have been present at both these
great battles.

Sir Robert Peel writes to my father. January 10,
1839, from Dray ton Manor: —

MY DKAK SIR, — I very much regretted that the necessity of
constant attention to a large party of guests left me little
leisure, when you last favoured me with your company at Dray-
ton Manor, for free communication with you on much more
important and interesting matters.

I do not think you will find yourself practically in an em-
barrassing situation in consequence of any course you may take
in reference to Canadian affairs, or any interviews you may
have with men of different political parties here. It will be
universally acknowledged that nothing could be more natural
than that you should adhere in this country to the intimacies
and friendships, which the agreement in principle and the sense
of common danger were so likely to cement in Upper Canada,
and that nothing could be more useful to the province than
that you should disregard the political and party differences
which divide us, and seek to impart and impress upon all public
men here those opinions which experience in Canadian affairs
and the advantage of local knowledge and connection have
cMititled you to form.

I for one shall be most happy to communicate with you
without reserve, having the fullest confidence in your ability,
integrity, and attachment to the interests both of the pro-

276 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

vinces of which you are an ornament and of the Mother
Country.

It appears to me that the time has come when the Execu-
tive Government of this country must, without the delay of
a month, pronounce some decisive and intelligible opinion
respecting the whole of the Canadian questions.

My opinion is that the Government ought to declare on
the part of the sovereign power of this country —

First. — Its determination, at all hazards, to maintain the
connection with its British North American Colonies, and to
send such a force there as should enable it to insist upon the
observance of the first principles of j ustice by the United States ;
not only by those who are called, by courtesy, the Government
of the United States, but by the people of that country.

My belief is that this is the only way of averting war with
the United States, as a consequence of American piracy and
depredation ; and that the fear of a powerful military force in
the Canadas, ready to act aggressively in the event of hostility,
is almost the only stimulus that can be applied to effectual
exertion on the part of the United States to check invasions
which cannot be tolerated by this country without public
dishonour to her.

Secondly. — I think the Government should avow that they
will not permit any longer the forms and privileges of a free
Constitution and representative Government to be perverted,
in Lower Canada, from the object for which they were granted
to the systematic destruction of British interests and the
undermining of British authority ; that they intend to act,
without any revengeful feeling for the past, with justice and
impartiality to all, so far as all legal rights — as distinguished
from favour and confidence — are concerned ; but that they will
execute their resolution of maintaining British authority and
defeating treasonable designs openly and frankly r, taking boldly
all such power as is necessary for the purpose, and not seeking
to hide their design under the cover and pretence of re-
establishing a popular Government to be hereafter thwarted and
defeated by indirect means. There is much less injury done to
that form of Government by the frank avowal that it is

x SIK HOHERT PEEL i>77

unsuitable in a certain case, than by pretending to establish it
in form but refusing it in substance.

Thirdly. — I would avow that this opportunity should be
taken of giving to the Upper Province those facilities for com-
mercial enterprise and free intercourse with other countries,
which nature seems to have assigned to her, but of which she
is at present deprived by legislative enactments now fairly open
to review.1

... I can easily believe that the details for executing these
leading principles would require the most careful consideration.
In many cases it is very unwise to announce a principle without
being fully prepared to execute it in all its details, but in the
of the Canadas I doubt much whether the best mode of
obviating the difficulties of detail would not be a decisive
declaration that the British Parliament had made uj> its mind
to do certain things, and would proceed to do them. The
minds of men, ministers, and others, will then be applied to
the consideration of the best mode of executing that which is
in principle resolved upon, which they will not be while every-
thing is left in uncertainty by the appointment of fresh com-
missions, anil the institution of interminable inquiries, the
Government appearing to have no opinion, or, as is probably
the truth, having none. — Believe me, my dear sir, with great
esteem, very faithfully yours, ROBERT PEKL.

In a letter to Dr. Strachan of February 10th, my
father say s :

To-morrow morning I go to London. The report of Lord
Durham is to be laid before the House, and in the meantime
it has, nobody knows how, found its way into the Times. I
have only seen part of it.

And he thus alludes to the burning of the
church of St. James, the present cathedral church

1 Alludes apparently to the dividing line between the provinces
having deprived I'pper Canada of a >eaj»ort • see chap, ix.), and the fiscal
difficulties which this entailed upon her.

278 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of Toronto, on 7th January 1839, of which he had
recently heard.1

We have all felt deeply the destruction of our excellent
church. Pray, in any of your measures, reckon upon me as
one who will go the full length with the most zealous of your
parishioners. You have need of all your fortitude and unyield-
ing spirit, and I pray God it may fully support you under your
trials of every description.

Between February llth and the end of March
1839 he was alone in London, staying at the
Spring Gardens Hotel, and much occupied with an
examination of Lord Durham's report.

On the 22nd February he writes to my mother : —

Since Tuesday morning I have literally been a hermit in
London, seeing nothing, and being seen of none, when I could
help it.

That Report! When I read the 119 folio pages I hardly
found a passage I did not burn to expose.

On Tuesday I took it up, and commenced the criticism in a
connected form, and after two days' hard work, on Wednesday
night I found I had got to page 27 out of 119.

How it worried me ! — so much to say ; such a wish to
shorten it.

But while I was taking a stroll in St. James's Park, my good
genius whispered — "Work at it leisurely at Cheltenham or
elsewhere, but now go at the main point, the Recommendations"

It was clearly the right course. I could thus make a
readable paper of moderate length, and could have it forthwith.

Yesterday morning, at half-past nine, I commenced my
intended letter to Lord Normanby, and precisely at 12 (mid-
night), having stopped half-an-hour for dinner, I had the
satisfaction of writing " I have the honour to be,11 &c.

I believe I never in my life went through a harder day's
work of the same kind.

1 An appeal for funds to rebuild this church was liberally met, and it
was re-erected by December in the same year.

x DURHAM REPORT 279

When I deliver in the paper I shall stand acquitted in my
conscience, happen what may.

He also wrote to my mother on 18th February
1839 :—

I was picked up on Saturday at Mr. TuffheUX Sir \V.
Morton's son-in-law, in Cavendish Square, and when I stepped
into the carriage to join Sir W. and Lady Horton, saw on the
front seat a large square black box, and by the side of it, who
do you think ? but Anna herself.1

She looked, I assure you, a conscience-smitten caitiff. I told
her it was fair to apprise her that I was engaged in reviewing
her book.

She was for some years in Lord Hathertoifs family, and as
Lord H. was on a visit to the Hortons, they asked her down
to meet him.

Mr. and Mrs. Carleton were there. She is a sister of Sir
W. Horton, and he is a son of old Lord Dorchester, the first
Governor-General of Canada.

Then we had a Miss Brown lee, who tried her hand at
sketching me, whether with more success than Mr. Dighton 2 I
cannot say.

Uoth Sir W. and Lady Horton express much desire to see
you and the girls. I have promised a visit for you, and can
answer for its being a most agreeable one.

Returning to Cheltenham by the 1st April, he
came again to town on the 17th with my mother and
eldest sister, taking lodgings at 3 Spring Gardens,
and on the *24th the rest of the family joined them.

About this time his leave was extended by the
Secretary of State for six months longer, and in
informing him of this Mr. Labouchere added :—

1 Anna Jameson, married to Vire-( hancellor Jameson, of Upper Canada,
and authoress of "Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada" (1&38),
in which Toronto society had been discussed and my father spoken of as
having " a fine head and acute features, and the most pleasing, insinuating
voice 1 have ever heard."

2 A water-colour sketch of my father, seated at his library table, had
been taken by a Mr. Dighton at Cheltenham.

280 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

I am desired to acquaint you that Lord Normanby is happy
to have it in his power, by acceding to your request, to express,
in however slight a manner, the respect which he entertains for
yourself personally, and the estimation in which he holds your
services.

I now quote from his Journal :—

%9th April 1839. — I received a note from Mr. Arbuthnot
saying that the Duke of Wellington had asked if I did not
mean to call upon him. He said the Duke would be glad to
see me any day at twelve, except Tuesday.

\st May. — I called on the Duke at twelve o'clock, and was
with him about an hour.

I had sent him some days before a letter from Sir John
Colborne, containing his ideas of the state of Lower Canada,
and of what ought to be done by Parliament. He had also
had copies of my letters to Lord Normanby on Lord Durham's
report ; on the measures necessary for the future government
of Canada ; and on the measures for restoring confidence and
security to Canada.

Before going further it may be as well here to
say that my father had urged in the letters above
mentioned, and to which I have alluded in the last
chapter, that nothing would more effectually stop
the troubles on the Canadian frontier than a clear
announcement in the British Parliament that Great
Britain was determined to maintain her connection
with her Colonies, putting forth, if necessary, all her
strength to that end ; and that foreign Governments
should be left in no doubt that in making war upon
any portion of the British Empire they were making
war on Great Britain.

The policy he advocated had in fact much in
common with that which Sir Robert Peel was in
favour of (see his letter of 10th January 1839, already

DUKE OF WELLINGTON i>8i

in this chapter), but as to which there existed
a strong impression that the Government would
not be bold enough to carry it out. The existence
abroad of this impression, from whatever cause it had
arisen, and whether right or wrong, had, he thought,
largely contributed to produce what had occurred.

The measures of defence which he advocated have
been touched upon in chapter iii., in connection with
the American War.

With respect to the American and other foreign
invaders of Canadian territory during the Rebellion,
he considered that their liability to trial by military
tribunals (see chapter viii.) was essential, but with
regard to certain prisoners taken after the cannonad-
ing of Amherstburg, and the killing and wounding
of British soldiers, that the best effect would be
produced by sending them to England to answer
there to the Crown for their offences.

It must be explained that at this time the extra-
dition treaties with the United States, which had
their origin largely in the events on the Canadian
border in 1837-38, did not exist.

Journal continued.

The Duke was looking remarkably well and cheerful.

It was his birthday (1st May), and he had completed his
seventieth year. He began by returning me Sir J. Colborne's
letter, and laying my letter on the defence, &c., of the provinces
before him on the table, and then said (referring to an expres-
sion of Sir J. Colborne's that the St. Lawrence should be made
an "imperial river1'1), —

Great Britain has given to these provinces each a separate
Legislature, and they have certain terms and conditions which
they wished and desired respecting the trade and navigation of
the river, and you do nothing for them by merely saying it

282 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

shall be an "imperial river." You must show them how their
interests are to stand, and why not do that at once — now — by
your measure ?

After a time he pointed to my paper which was on the
table, and said : —

I have read your paper — every word of it — and have con-
sidered it well. The subject is not new to me. I suggested
twenty years ago the measures that I thought should be taken
for the defence of the Canadas. I was then Master-General of
the Ordnance, and I made it my business to acquaint myself
with the particular position and geography of the provinces.
I remember the whole matter perfectly. I am sure that I could
now, from this room, give directions for posting an army at
Burlington Heights.

You speak also of Penetanguishene. I remember I was
most anxious that that should be made a strong and important
station.

I agree in all you say about the measures that ought to be
taken with the American Government, and about the disposal
of their people when made prisoners. You are right in every-
thing, but mind, I tell you, the Ministers will do nothing what-
ever respecting this.

Your paper, my dear sir, was written for a different country,
for a different state of things altogether. Your paper was
written for " Old England," but this is not " Old England,"
nor anything like it. I speak of what I remember, but you
must see yourself that everything is totally changed.

I venture to say that you will not be able to get them to
look at that paper; no, nor upon anything of the colour of
that paper.

The whole now is a miserable party warfare, in which all the
grand interests of the nation are sunk. If the people in Down-
ing Street tell you that they could do anything for the Colonies,
such as you point out, don't believe them. They can do
nothing of the kind. They are under an influence that will
not allow them to do it.

See what the Government are now doing in this Jamaica
question. I say to the West Indian people, if these measures

x DUKE OF WELLINGTON 288

are carried, my advice to you is, sell your property if you can
and leave the country ; and, if you can't sell your property. >till
you had better leave the country, and go into the first En<r|i>h
workhouse that will receive you, for there, at any rate, your life
will be safe.

Now, sir, I tell you, that the Government will do nothing
of the kind that you there point out to them. They can't do
it, the time for looking at great questions in this way is gone
by. Look at the language the Government has always held
about the affairs in Canada ; they have never made the
Queen say more, in effect, than that she will support those
who support her. It is not merely because some of her
subjects there have behaved well that the support should be
given. It's because her Empire has been attacked — that's
the reason.

This is but a small part of what he said. His conversation
was very interesting. His manner was animated and warm, his
voice occasionally loud. His eye particularly kind and intelli-
gent, but his hearing is a little difficult. One cannot so readily
<li.tnt.vjf a matter with him as with a younger man.

I could not but look upon him with intense interest while
he was speaking — his honest language, his open bearing, and
then the recollection of the career he had had.

In connection with the measures suggested by the
Duke of Wellington for the defence of the Canadas,
which (so far as I am aware) have not been made
public, the following letter l written by Lord Stanley
to Sir Robert Peel, a few years later than the date on
which the above entry in my father's Journal was
made, has an interest :—

" \-lth August l«4.x
(Secret.)

I send you — I dare not send the Duke — what appears to

1 "Sir Robert Peel— from his Private Papers "—edited for bis trustees
by C. S. Parker (1899), vol. iii. p. 216.

284 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

me a very wild letter from Lord Metcalfe l on the chances of
war with the United States, and the course to be pursued.

I am clearly of opinion (contrary to his) that in such an
event, our operations on the Canadian frontier must be purely
defensive. It must, however, be admitted that in Canada, as
elsewhere, our defensive works are sadly deficient. Whenever
I have touched upon the question with the Duke, he always
refers back to a plan laid down by himself in 1826, the expense
of which was so enormous that all Governments have deferred
acting upon it.

Journal continued.

May 1839.— Dined at Lord WharnclifiVs, where I met,
with others, Lord Harrowby and Lord Aberdeen. I had, at
dinner and after, a good deal of conversation with Lord Aber-
deen respecting Canada. He spoke strongly against the union.

4tth May. — I now see that Ministers have announced their
measure ; a royal message was delivered in each House, recom-
mending a legislative union. After twelve o'clock I called on
Sir Robert Peel by appointment. He tells me that the West
India debate stands for Monday, and that the Canada business
is further postponed till Wednesday.

I can consistently repeat my objections to the union, for I
have never changed my view of the subject. My letter to the
Secretary of State in 1822 contains what I still think, only
that all that has since occurred strengthens my repugnance to
the measure.2

7th May. — Mr. Amyott called, and told me the result of
last night's debate upon the Jamaica Bill. Ministers had only
five of a majority. I inferred that they must go out,3 and the
surmise was strengthened by my getting a note from Mr. Edward
Ellice, with whom I was to dine to-day, saying that " some-
thing unexpected had occurred " and begging me not to come.

1 Lord Metcalfe was Governor-General of Canada 1843-47.

2 See chap. vi. and chap. ix.

a The Bill for the suspension of the constitution in Jamaica, where the
Assembly had declared against Imperial interference or control, being
only carried by five votes, the Ministry resigned, being disinclined with
so narrow a majority in favour of their policy to deal with the Jamaica
question.

x UKSK, NATION OF MINISTRY

At Bight O'clock the newsmen WIMV iT\ing about tin- str«

•mill edition of t lit- ('ouritt\ and the roi^nat ion of Lord
Melbourne and the Ministry.

Hth May. — Dined tit Lord Lvndluirsrs. Lord Hroiighum
was there in full dre>>, meaning to go in the evening to
Cambridge House. Dark-coloured coat with metal buttons, a
white satin waist roat sprigged, purple-coloured breeches, white
stockings, and a sword. lie talked incessant >niall talk.

Lord Lyndhurst has since told me that he knew then of the
(<)ueeifs refusal to part with her ladies, and that Lord Mel-
bourne's Ministr\ was in again. I observed him .serious, but
attributed it to quite the opposite cause to the true one.

This incident caused some stir at the time. Sir
Robert Peel, who was called upon to form a new
Government upon the resignation of Lord Melbourne's
Ministry, considered that in the case of a reigning
Queen, as distinguished from a Queen the consort of
a King, the Prime Minister could not have due
weight with the Sovereign unless the chief ladies of
the Household (whose near male relatives belonged
to the out-going Government) changed with the
(.overnment. Lord Melbourne thought this un-
necessary. The Queen was naturally averse to it.
The Duke of Wellington considered that it was
constitutionally desirable, a view not popular at the
time. It was arranged eventually that Lord Mel-
bourne's Ministry should resume office.

13th June. — To-night the Canada Bill is to be introduced,
and a debate will take place at which I cannot he present, but
it will not be the discussion which will determine the vote.

\4>th June. — I went in the morning to Mr. Pakington, and
had much conversation with him regarding the Clergy
Reserves, \c.

\8th June. — Sir Peregrine Maitland with me to-day.

286 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

19th June. — Went with Emily, Louisa, and William
Boulton to Woolwich and Greenwich, and spent a pleasant
day seeing the sights there.

On my return I found a kind note from the Duke of
Wellington asking me to bring Mrs. Robinson and my family
to-morrow at four o'clock to see his trophies, &c., in Apsley
House. The Duke also asked me to dine with him that day at
half-past seven.

20th June. — At four o'clock went with Emma, William
Boulton, John, Emily, Augusta, and Louisa 1 to Apsley House.
The Duke came down and received us, and most kindly showed
us over his house.

The table for our dinner to-night was set out with his
magnificent service of plate from the kingdom of Portugal, and
there was the noble golden shield and candelabra presented by
the bankers and merchants of London.

He showed us his paintings, a very fine Correggio, " Christ
in the Garden,1' which he says is one of the finest, if not the
finest, painting in England. It is striking — a small picture.

It was most delightful to us all to have the Duke of Welling-
ton pointing out to us the different portraits of Buonaparte.
My little ones were charmed.

The Duke explained to us how embarrassing the Portuguese
plate had been to him. The plateau for the great ornament
was so large that he had first to make a table for it, then
a room to hold the table, and to get this room he had to
pull down the park front of his house, and add many feet
to it. " Confound the plateau " (he said), " it cost me a great
deal of money."

It made him improve his house, however. It is now
magnificent.

About thirty dined. I sat between Lord Maryboro' and
Lady Fitz Roy Somerset, his daughter. Lord Maryboro' I had
much talk with. He seems a stiff, unbending Conservative.

1 These were my mother, William Boulton, of the Grange, Toronto,
my brother John Beverley, and my sisters (afterwards Mrs. Lefroy, Mrs.
Strachan, and Mrs. Allan).

x A PS LEY HOUSE 287

After dinner I talked with the Duchess of Richmond, her
son the Duke, Lord Fit/, Hoy Somerset, and the Duke of
Wellington. The Duke spoke much of aiiairs here and in
Canada, and is clear and impressive in all he says.

%4>th June. — Received to-day the resolution of the Legis-
lative Council of Upper Canada requesting me to " represent
generally the interests of the proviiu

C26th Jum. — The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress called for
Mrs. Robinson, and took us down in their carriage to Rich-
mond to dine with the " Worshipful Company of Cordwaii
at the "Star and Garter" at three o'clock. \Ve sat down to
dinner at four, a large party, and drove hack to town at eight.

SXth June. — This evening Dr. St.rachan arrived from
Toronto.1

This morning Mr. Pakington sent me the Union Rill,
which had been brought in and printed yesterday. I had not
seen a word of this Rill before.

Sunday , JJ(V// June. — Went with Dr. Strachan, after church
(at Cur/on Chapel), to call on Bishop Inglis — not at home —
and on Gillespie, whom we saw.2

I dined at Lord Wilton's, 7 Grosvenor Square. Old
General Alava, the Duke of Wellington, Duchess of Beaufort,
Lord Jersey, Lord and Lady Lyndhurst, Lord Brougham, Lord
and I^ady Stanley, Lord and Lady Mahon.::

I sat between the Duke of Wellington and Lord Mahon.
We had much conversation about Canada, the proposed union,
parties here, &c.

Good joke of Lord Brougham's when some one said that
Lord Glenelg, when he did work, was an able man. " When
he did work ! " said Brougham ; " that reminds me of what
I once read in some natural history book, that when an ox
docs give milk, he gives more than two cows."

1 Dr. Strachau had come to England to be consecrated as the first
Hi>hop of Toronto, and returned to Canada in the autumn.

- Hishop Inglis was the first Bishop of Nova Scotia —consecrated 1827.
Mr. Gillespie was probably from Montreal.

3 Afterwards Karl Stanhope, author of " Conversations with the Duke
of Wellington " (1889).

288 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Sydney Smith saying, when Landseer proposed to make
a portrait of him, " Is thy servant a dog ? "

\st July. — Sir Francis Head called. I received a satisfac-
tory note from Sir W. Follett l at Brighton, respecting the
American invaders. He quite agrees with me.

%nd July. — I called on Lord Lyndhurst, and had a conver-
sation respecting the legal point about the American invaders.
He is to show the draft of my letter to him to Brougham, and
converse with him upon it.

He inclines, though not confidently, to the opinion that the
invaders of Point Pele Island might be prosecuted for murder.

In the evening I went to the House of Lords to hear the
debate on the Jamaica Bill in Committee. Lord Lyndhurst
began the discussion. Lord Brougham spoke, also Lords
Normanby, Melbourne, Glenelg, Mansfield, St. Vincent, Sea-
forth, and Ellenborough. Lord Melbourne hesitates extremely.
None of the Bishops spoke. Daniel Webster was there.2

3rd July.— Breakfasted with Sir Robert Inglis— Sir R. W.
Horton, Archdeacon Strachan, the Dean of Christ Church, his
son, and W. Boulton were of the party. We had much talk
about emigration.

At half-past five I went to Lord Normanby by appoint-
ment.

We spoke of the Union Bill. I tpld__him_jthat the five
inferior legislatures 3 were not wanted in Upper Canada, and
would be mischievous there and everywhere ; that they were
un-English, and would plunge us into a perpetual round of
elections ; and that, besides this, a power to tax without limit
was not to be trusted to a single body chosen annually.

He seemed to agree in all.

I then spoke of the Welland Canal Reserved Bill, and was
speaking of the finances of Upper Canada when Lord John
Russell came in, and entered into conversation with me on

1 The Solicitor-General.

2 The well-known American statesman.

3 Refers to the " Elective Councils " which it was intended to have
in each of the five proposed districts (see chap. ix.). These were after-
wards withdrawn from the Bill.

x THE AMERICAN INVADERS 289

various points, but particularly as regarded the American
prisoners, and he intimated that it was in contemplation to let
them go, on the undertaking not to return to America. I told
him that, as to their not going to Canada, if that were made a
condition of their pardon, it could be enforced, but that the
other could not ; that it was wrong to have left the colony to
punish them as if their offence was only against the municipal
laws of Upper Canada ; that they should have been at once
taught that their offence was against the British Crown, and I
referred to my letter of 29th March to Lord Normanby on this
head.

During July and August 1839 my father and all
his party were much at Highlands with the Merrys,
and at Brighton (47 Old Steyne), but he very
frequently came up to town upon business. At
Brighton he occasionally saw Sir Peregrine Maitland,
who was staying there.

July. — I had some conversation with Lord Brougham
about the opinion he had given in debate. He denied that he
had been correctly reported, but still said he was not prepared
to admit that it was not treason in any foreigner coming in
peace to make war in Upper Canada.

He had read my letter to Lord Lyndhurst.

3rd August. — Went to consult Dr. Prout. At 12 o'clock
called on the Duke of Wellington.

He spoke a great deal of our canals and defences, and asked
me to go and see him at Walmer1 when the session was
over.

I had Dr. Strachan to dinner with me at Spring Gardens
Hotel. In the evening we went to a soiree at Campbell's
(" Pleasures of Hope ") at 61 Lincoln's Inn. We had about
fifteen persons, much talk, tea and coifee, then a cloth laid and
some supper, cold chicken, &c., and then a tureen of punch.

1 He afterwards visited the Duke, not at Walmer, but at Strathfield-
saye (see page 29.'*).

T

290 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

We came away at half-past twelve, and left all the others
there.

Campbell is lamentably altered in appearance, but full
of wit.

He proposed to drink " to the memory of Archdeacon
Strachan," who was to be consecrated Bishop to-morrow.
" Come, come," he said, " Doctor, don't go away, you're not
a seceder, you're a churchman.1"

Sunday, 4<th August. — At 11, went with Dr. Strachan and
Mr. Wilder of the Colonial Office to be present at the con-
secration of the Doctor to be Bishop of Toronto, and of Dr.
Spencer (Aubrey John), as first Bishop of Newfoundland and
Bermuda.

It was a very imposing ceremony in the Chapel of Lambeth
Palace.

The two Bishops were presented to the Archbishop by the
Bishop of Chichester for consecration. Their patents were then
read. Then the Archbishop proceeded with the Consecration
Service, the Bishops of London, Chichester, and Nova Scotia
assisting.

We all dined in the Palace, the new Bishops sitting one on
each side of the Archbishop. Each Bishop brings with him
two guests. The entertainment was magnificent, and great
state observed.

We then walked round the gardens of the Palace, about
thirty acres, and were shown the library.

It was singular that, without concert, I, being Chief-Justice
of Upper Canada, should be present here in London, at the
consecration of my old master as Bishop.

We thought little of this at Cornwall in 1806.

At this time, while my father was at Brighton, Dr.
Prout, Sir Benjamin Brodie, and Dr. (afterwards Sir
Henry) Holland, all of whom had attended him
medically at various periods, recommended that, on
account of his health, which was not thoroughly re-
established, he should not risk a winter voyage to
Canada.

x EXTENSION OF LEAVE 291

He received also from Sir George Arthur in
Canada the copy of a private letter kindly written by
him to Lord Normanby, then Secretary of State,
respecting the extension of his leave — of which the
following is an extract : —

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,
TORONTO, 29/A July, 1839.

... It would not be proper in me to say that Mr. Robin-
son's continued absence from this province is a matter of small
moment, for I think very differently ; but I have intimated to
his family that if his health be not perfectly re-e.stablished, it
will be much better that he should apply for an extension of
leave than that he should return as an invalid, with the proba-
bility of being again obliged to revisit England on account of
his health.

Whilst the affairs of Canada have been under consideration
I have felt satisfied that Mr. Robinson might be useful in
England, for although I know he differed wholly from the
opinions of the Earl of Durham, yet if measures were deter-
mined on by her Majesty's Government, however contrary
they might be to Mr. Robinson's judgment, I entertain that
high notion of his character as to feel confident that he would
endeavour to give all the information in his power, and offer
such suggestions as would make the measures in question as
perfect as possible.

The position which Mr. Robinson has long held in this
province is a most important one. He is regarded with a kind
of reverence by all the old Canadian party ; with a most
uncalled-for and most unjustifiable jealousy by some individuals
— but, by all, with more esteem and respect for his abilities,
and with more regard for his virtues than any other person, as
I believe, in either of the provinces.

At the present crisis there is certainly no person more
capable of assisting in settling the great questions connected
with the Canadas, for whilst his high monarchical principles
are universally known, he is opposed to all extreme measures,
and is tolerant in his religious views.

292 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

This led to his eventually obtaining a further
extension of leave, upon medical grounds, until the
following spring, and he arranged to take a house at
Wandsworth up to 31st March, and sail for Canada
in the first week of April.

He now spent some six weeks in Paris with my
mother and his family ; and from hence my brother
John, then with them, returned to Canada, sailing
from Portsmouth in the ship Toronto.

Writing to his brother William from Bridgefield
Cottage, Wandsworth, on the 13th November 1839,
my father says : —

Nothing could be pleasanter than my situation here. I am
four miles out of town in a very comfortable house, with a
garden and grounds about the size of ours in Toronto.

I see no one scarcely, being out of the way, and therefore
am not interrupted ; and when I wish to go to town there are
many public conveyances passing. I see the doctor now and
then, and can in all things as to air, exercise, &c., consult my
health, which I trust is permanently benefiting by it. Clarke
Gamble has laid us all under great obligations by his attention
in writing. His letters are most welcome. They tell us all we
wish to know, and furnish occasion for many a hearty laugh.1

He now set to work steadily at " Canada and the
Canada Bill," embodying his examination of the
Union Bill of June 1839, and was only occasionally
up in town.

1 Mr. Joseph Clarke Gamble, K.C. (my godfather),, a link with the
early days of Canada, died very recently (28th November 1902) in Toronto
at the age of 94.

CHAPTER XI

JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE IN ENGLAND
DECEMBER 1839 TO APRIL 1840

Visit to Duke of tt'Yllington at Strathneldsaye— Dickens : Macaulay—
Beverley House: Mr. Poulett-Thompson The Queen's marriage— The
Spectator »B to intrigues against theCiovernment policy — Resolution of
Legislative ( onncil, Upper Canada- -The Canada Club .Meeting of
Niriety for Propagation of Uospel — Mr. \\ . E. (Gladstone — Return to
Canada preyed Interview with Ix>rd J. Russell — Archbishop of( an
terburyand Clergy Reserves — Duke of Wellington as to his pamphlet.
&c. — Farewell let fer* and interviews Sir R. Inglis,Sir R. Peel, Duke
of Wellington, Lord Lyndhurst, Sir F. Head— Meeting of S.F.G.
Embarks for New York— Return to Toronto— Address of inhabitants.

ON the llth December 1839 my father was invited
by the Duke of Wellington to visit him at Strath-
fieldsaye, and writes to my mother :—

STRATHFIKLDSAYE,

15th DwinbiT 1839.

I write to you, not to quiet your alarms on account of my
formidable journey, but because I think you ought to have a
letter from me, however short, written from Strathfieldsaye.

I left London at two o'clock, and arrived here a little before
six. Lord Seaton and his son, intending to come by the other
railroad, were five minutes too late, and had, in consequence,
to post it down, and with difficulty reached us in time to dress
for dinner.

The Duke showed me into my bedroom, the walls of which
are wholly covered with a series of paintings exhibiting the
coronation ceremony of George IV.

I found Lord and Lady Georgiana de Ros both agreeable
people, and she particularly so. She would remind you con-
stantly of her sister Lady Sarah.1

1 Lady Sarah Maitland, wife of Sir Peregrine Maitland.

293

294 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Colonel Gurwood l is here, and my old friend Mr.
Arbuthnot, and we have some county people to dinner.

The Duke, I am happy to say, is in excellent health and
spirits, and he certainly does the honours of his house to
admiration.

It was interesting to see the Duke and Sir J. Colborne
(Lord Seaton) meet: it must have revived a recollection of
stirring scenes.

In his Journal also he says : —

I found the Duke cheerful and well, and he says he never was
better ; very animated and amusing. I perceive only, I think,
increased misgovernment of his voice in speaking.

After dinner I had much conversation with him alone —
probably more than an hour — upon the affairs of Canada and
the Colonies and on politics here.

He said, "It is Upper Canada that wants strengthening,
and so I told the Ministers. Make all right there, and you are
safe — but if you lose that, you lose all your Colonies in that
country, and if you lose them, you may as well lose London."

... I asked him how it happened that the French mobs
generally resisted the troops so much more than an English
mob — as, for instance, comparing the three days in July with
the Newport Rebellion. "Was it because so many of the
people were drilled as members of the National Guard?""
He said, " There is something in that, but that's not the chief
reason. An Englishman has a great dread of going against
the laws : and then, on the other hand, an English officer or
soldier has never any hesitation in doing his duty, when he
knows he has the law with him. He sees his whole danger.
A French soldier can't rely upon the law protecting him.
He is obliged to think, Is the National Guard right ? Is the
Army with us ? Is the Nation with us ? Because, if not, the
laws can't protect him. He has nothing to trust to."

We went to church on Sunday — a nice little parish church,
the Duke's pew most comfortable, a little stove in it, heated

1 Who edited the Wellington Despatches.

xi VISIT TO STRATHFIELDSAVE 295

by wood, which he kept supplying pretty liberally. Pipes
overhead, as in Canada. Lady de Ros told me the Duke
seems quite regardless of the usual consequence of the heat
overhead.

19^ December 1839.— I dined with Sir Robert Inglis, and
met there Mr. Thomas Babington Macaulay, Dr. Lushington
the Vice-Chancellor, Lady Raffles, Sir George Whitmore, and
several others whose names I did not know. Next me sat
"Boz," the author of "Pickwick," with whom I had much
conversation after dinner. He is a young man, animated and
agreeable.

In the evening there was a conversazione. Literary men,
artists, lawyers, &c. I could not stay long, as I had to return
to Wands worth. Before I left I met Sir Astley Cooper, Sir
Martin Shea, the United States Ambassador, Sir Nicholas
Tindal, Baron Gurney, Serjeants Talfourd and Adams, West-
macott, and others.

Macaulay is a great talker and has a prodigious memory,
clear and circumstantial as to facts and dates.

2nd January, 1840. — I went to Cheltenham for a fortnight,
having, since 19th December, several times seen Lord Seaton,
and having sent to Sir Robert Peel my two letters of 9th and

2!)th March last.

Here it may be mentioned that while he was
in England engaged upon " Canada and the Canada
Hill" his house in Toronto (Beverley House) was let
to the Governor-General of Canada, Mr. Poulett-
Thompson (afterwards Lord Sydenham), and thus
became the headquarters of a recognised warm sup-
porter of the Union measure, who entertained most
hospitably in it.

Mr. Robert Stanton writes from Toronto on 12th
December 1839 :—

If you could pop in upon us suddenly how much surprised
you would be, on walking up to your house, to find it in the
full glare of lights, and with two sentries posted in front.

296 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

And Mr. John Macaulay, on 21st January
1840 :-

It seems odd enough to me to sit in the aide-de-camp's
room in rear of your own study, and there see Captain Le
Marchant occupied in transcribing the draft of the new Con-
stitution under the union ! What a changeful world we
live in.1

Journal continued.

liOth February. — The Queen married — a rainy day. The
Duke of Wellington not invited, nor any of the great nobility
or foreign Ministers, either to the breakfast or banquet in the
evening. It seems strange. No illumination or sign of rejoic-
ing around us.

The above entry is of interest. It gives, of
course, only my father's impressions from what he
saw immediately around him at Wandsworth, and
heard in conversation at the time ; but a reference
to the journals of the day shows that, even in London
itself, the illuminations were not of a general or very
brilliant character.

The Times says that they were by no means so
good as at the coronation, and were principally exhi-
bited at the club-houses, Government offices, and
residences of those connected with the Court and
Palace ; and that the crowd in the streets was not
so great as on other public occasions.

The Morning Chronicle says that the city was
" charily lighted," that Oxford Street and the City
Road exhibited a "beggarly amount," and that
" many noblemen and gentlemen did not exhibit/'

1 With reference to this occupation of Beverley House in the interests
of the Union, it is said in Mr. Robertson's "Landmarks of Toronto" that
Mr. Thompson put up a new kitchen range in the house ; and the remark
is amusingly added, "This was, it is said, the indirect cause of getting
the union measure through the Upper Canada Parliament/'

I

xi THE QUEEN'S MARRIAGE 297

With respect to the omission of the Duke of
Wellington from the breakfast and banquet — which,
under the exceptional nature of his services to the
State, created surprise — an explanation from one of
the Court appeared in the press, that, as he was out
of office, and as only certain members of royal
families, with their suites, leading Cabinet Ministers,
and the Bishops who had performed the marriage
ceremony, &c., could be included among the numbers
invited, he was necessarily not so.

Nothing, though, could better illustrate the change
of public feeling in England within the last century,
due, no doubt, largely to the two royal personages,
the Queen and the Prince Consort, married at this
time, than the above entiy, and that in chapter v.,
previously given, referring to the opening of Parlia-
ment on January 28, 1817.

Journal continued.

6th March. — Went to Court with Lukin, and was presented
by Lord John Russell.

10th March. — I saw the Duke of Wellington at Apsley
House. He was in good health and spirits, but altered in
appearance since I last met him.

He spoke very clearly and most sensibly on the subject
of Canada, and asked me if I had seen the Spectator of the
Sunday before. He said I ought to see it, as it contained
some remarks about me and my supposed connection with
Lord Lyndhurst.

My father alludes no further to this article in
the Spectator, but having looked at it, I give these
extracts from it : —

Lord Lyndhurst, we are credibly informed, is once more

298 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

busy with Canadian politics, but he does not trust to his own
knowledge of the subject ; he is said to derive information and
counsel from Mr. Robinson, Chief- Justice of Upper Canada. It
is scarcely to be doubted that, however different their motives,
they will conspire to defeat the measures of the union to which
the Government is pledged. How the former is allowed to
remain year after year absent from his Colonial post, for
the purpose of intriguing against the Government, it passes
ordinary comprehensions to understand.

It must have been about this time that he re-
ceived the following resolution of the Legislative
Council of Upper Canada, passed the last day of
the last Parliament of that province : —

Wth February i<34^

The members of this House, before separating at the close
of probably their last session, desire to express their regret
that indisposition should have caused the prolonged absence
of the Hon. Mr. Robinson from his seat in this House, and
they unite in the hope that he will speedily be restored to the
country to pursue with renovated health and strength that
laborious and distinguished career which has been so fruitful
of honour to himself and of benefit to his fellow-subjects.

Journal continued.

13th March. — I dined at the Canada Club. Sir James
Stirling, who founded the colony of Swan River, was there,
and his father, who accompanied General Gore to Detroit
in 1808; also Mr. M'Kenzie and Mr. Lockhart, M.P.'s.

I went (on the same day) to the Committee of the Society
for Propagating the Gospel, having been requested to do so by
note received on Saturday. The Bishop of Salisbury (Denison)
was in the chair. The Bishop of Nova Scotia l was also there,
and five or six others. I was able to attend an adjourned

Bishop Inglis.

i

xi RETURN TO CANADA PRESSED 299

meeting (on the 15th). The Archbishop of Canterbury was in
the chair.

The committee resolved to memorialise the Government
against the Clergy Reserves Bill, but I suggested that it should
be first ascertained whether any such interference would be
necessary ; because, if not, it had better be forborne ; that
perhaps the Government would tell them that they did not
intend to support the Bill.

Mr. Pakington attended the meeting, and Mr. Gladstone1
came when it was just over. I was introduced to him, and had
some conversation with him. He is an intelligent and interest-
ing-looking person.

The time had now arrived when my father's
return to Canada was being strongly pressed in more
than one quarter.

On the 6th March Mr. Hume 2 asked in the House
of Commons how long he had been away from his
duties, and on the 17th March Mr. Leader, M.I'.,
put a question to the same effect.

It need not be a matter of surprise that by some
of those interested in the passage of the Union Bill
a pressure was brought upon the Government that
facilities to remain longer in England should not be
afforded to one who had so openly spoken and
written against it ; and it must be added in fairness
that it could be now reasonably urged that he had
been some time absent from important judicial duties.

As far as he himself was concerned, his interest
in the question of the union would have made him
glad in some respects to remain until the measure
had been finally settled.

Many in public and private positions on both

1 Mr. W. E. Gladstone, afterwards Prime Minister.

Mr. Joseph Hume, M.P., a leader of the Radical party in the
House of Commons ; died 1855.

300 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

sides of the Atlantic, whose opinions he valued,
were pressing upon him that by his presence in
England when the principles and details of the Bill
were being dealt with, he could now render a greater
service to Canada than he could in any position if in
Canada itself.

On the other hand, he was anxious to resume his
post. It was distasteful to him to have his motives
in not returning to it earlier occasionally miscon-
strued. His health, though not entirely restored,
had improved ; and most of what he had thought
it necessary to urge against the Union Bill had
been made public.

On the 27th February he had written to Dr.
Strachan : — " I long to be again at my own proper
work, and have been, indeed, for some time employed
in framing a body of rules for our Court."

On the 19th March he had an interview by
appointment with Lord John Russell, who had
before this informed him that, in advices from Upper
Canada, the Governor-General had urged very
strongly the inconvenience caused by his protracted
absence.

Alluding to this interview, my father says in his
Journal : —

After some general remarks he told me in an embarrassed
way that he thought it right to mention to me that he had
heard through various quarters, and indeed from Canada as
well as here, that I was concerting measures to oppose the
plans of the Government; that I was in concert with Lord
Lyndhurst in particular and with others; and he intimated
that that would not be a fair proceeding on my part.

I heard him patiently through, and then said that I could
not know what his Lordship had heard, or from whom, but

xi LORD JOHN RUSSELL 301

that I was much obliged by his speaking to me openly on the
point. . . .

That if it was supposed that I sought any person for the
purpose of concerting with him a plan of proceeding to oppose
the Government, I could only say the supposition
groundlc

That I had undoubtedly stated as freely to those who are
called Conservatives as to the Government the objections which
I had to the union, and, in order that there might be no
doubt as to these opinions and statements, I had published the
small volume I had, which contained all I had to say; and one
chief point I had in publishing it was that the Government
might read all that I was in the constant habit of expressing to
others. . . . That as to Lord Lyndhurst, I had known him for
twenty years, and had never been in England without receiving
kind attention from him ; and that, in any conversation with
him respecting the union, I had spoken as unreservedly as to
others. . . .

I told him that I had no more idea what the opponents of
the Government had decided to do in respect to the union, or
whether they had determined upon anything, than if I had
been all the time in Canada ; that if they had resolved on a
certain course and had told me of it, I could not have men-
tioned it, but that the truth really was that they had not, and
that I had asked them no questions.

Lord John then said that he agreed perfectly in what I
said ; and he repeated that he found no fault whatever with me
for publishing the book I had ; that he thought that quite
fair ; and he declared that he also admitted that what I had
just said besides was reasonable and correct.

He then entered into a long discussion of the union and
Clergy Reserves in a friendly strain. I was with him two
hours. He did not offer to show me any Bill, but said it was
not finished — that there were certain legal questions to be con-
sidered, which were before the law officers.

I spoke strongly against the union, and told him I was
quite sure that it would not be many years before they would
have a House of Assembly as unreasonable and as pertinacious

302 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

as any there had been in Lower Canada, and that they would
equally decline to act under their Constitution.

He remarked that the Legislative Council could be so con-
stituted as to be some check. I said : " Yes, but we see that
as soon as it proves itself to be an effective check, an im-
patience is felt to remodel it, so as to make it agreeable to the
Assembly." . . .

At the conclusion I again thanked him for speaking to me
as he had done in the first part of our interview, and added
that I must beg to repeat that I felt myself perfectly at liberty
to say unreservedly to any one what I thought of the public
measures proposed.

He said, " Oh certainly, that cannot be objected to," and
we parted, apparently on cordial terms, but he volunteered no
particular statement of the objects of the Bill or its clauses,
further than to say that it really contained little but the
principle of the union ; and that, as I objected to that, he did
not see that I could give assistance to them.

23rd March. — I went and heard the debate about Canada
with Lukin. This was the first knowledge I obtained of the
details of the intended measure.

I may here mention that my brother Lukin
remained for some time in England, and became,
while there, a barrister of the Middle Temple.

Mr. Justice Patteson1 had recommended Mr.
Edmund Badeley, afterwards a well-known ecclesias-
tical lawyer, as a special pleader for him to read with,
and the latter writes to my father, 20th August
1840 :-

You have probably heard of Lord Chief- Justice TindaFs 2
kindness in taking your son with him as his marshal on the
Midland circuit. Independently of the fees to which he is

1 Sir John Patteson, Justice of the Queen's Bench, 1830-52, uncle of
the present Postmaster of Toronto. Died 1861.

'2 Sir Nicholas Tindal, Chief-Justice, Court of Common Pleas. Died
1846.

xi LORD JOHN RUSSELL 303

entitled, he has the opportunity of seeing the forms and modes
of trial, and the civil and criminal business of our Courts. As
he is the constant companion of the Chief- Justice, as well as of
the other judges during the whole circuit, living ami travelling
with him, he has the benefit of free communication with him,
and of receiving from day to day the most valuable information
and advice.

As far as I can judge, I should say that he is very well
prepared to profit by all that he will see of business, in my
chambers and elsewhere.

On the 24th March my father received the follow-
ing from one of the Under Secretaries of State for the
Colonies, dated 23rd March 1840:—

I am directed by Lord John Russell to inform you that the
anxiety which his Lordship entertained regarding your pro-
tracted absence from Upper Canada, on receiving the repre-
sentations on that subject from the Governor-General, which
were made known to you in my letter of the 5th February, has
been enhanced by the repeated remonstrances which have been
made respecting your absence by members of the House of
Commons in their places in that House.

The letter went on to desire information as to
the exact date on which the vessel conveying him
to Canada was to sail, and concluded with an inti-
mation that under no circumstances could a further
prolongation of his leave be granted.

About this time he had the satisfaction of
receiving from Mr. Arbuthnot the following letter
referring to his pamphlet, " Canada and the Canada
Bill " :-

APSLEY HOUSE, 23rd March 1840.

MY DEAR SIR, — . . . With regard to your pamphlet, of
which you desired to have my opinion, I think it will be far
more worth your while to know the Duke's opinion of it. He

304 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

has over and over again said to me that a work of greater
ability he has never read. You will hardly want to know what
I think after giving you the Duke's opinion. If the union
takes place, we run the almost certain risk of losing those most
important provinces ; and in losing them, we should lose the
right arm of the naval preponderance of England. I am very
sorry you will not be here when the Bill is discussed. — Believe
me, my dear sir, ever most truly yours, CH. ARBUTHNOT.

March. — I saw the Duke again to-day, at his request,
from ten to eleven. He discussed the Clergy Reserves question,
and the Union Bill clearly and most satisfactorily. I saw also
the Archbishop of Canterbury, and had a long conversation
with him on the Clergy Reserves, and with the Bishop of
Exeter.

%nd April. — This morning I received a note, brought by
the Duke's servant at eight o'clock, saying that he had seen his
Parliamentary friends yesterday, and was very desirous of
seeing me to-day.

I went to Apsley House at twelve. He said, " I spent the
greater part of yesterday with our Conservative friends at Sir
Robert Peel's, and we were principally discussing the Clergy
Reserves measure.

" They all seemed clearly enough to perceive the difficulty
of settling the question, but no one seemed to set himself fairly
to the consideration of how the difficulty could be overcome.

" You must have seen,1' he said, " while you have been in
this country, that there are only two ways of doing things
here ; that is, you must do them by means of one party or the
other, for as for any man, or number of men, attempting to
strike out a middle course, and to settle a great public question
by a measure just and reasonable, and such as all good men
must approve of, it is out of the question, no one thinks of it.
Practically I believe there is no help for it. Experience has
shown this state of things to be necessary here. You can only
carry a thing by taking your party with you, you must go
all one way or all the other.

4tth April. — Dined with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Met the Bishop of Lincoln and seven or eight others.

xi SIR HO BERT INGLIS :«)•>

The Archbishop returned me a paper I had left him, saying
that it rested the right of the Kstuhlished Church on more
solid grounds than he had seen set out before.

As my lather's departure drew near he received
many kind farewell notes, among them the following
from Sir Robert Inglis :—

7 BKI>FOKI> S^i ,/,/•// 1840.

MY DI AK CHIKF- JUSTICE, — I cannot go to bed without
thanking you for your very kind letter, which I have just
found on my return home from the debate, the division, and
the close (without a division) of the great corn law question.

I can truly assure you that I shall often think of you, and
never without respect and regard. I hope that we shall yet
meet here.

You will (D. V.) find us here at breakfast on Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday mornings; and, if you
come at a quarter before nine, you will be one of our family.
Pray bring your son.

... If Lady Inglis should be at home, it would give her
much pleasure to see Mrs. Robinson, and show her our picture
of Mr. Wilberforce.1 — Believe me, my dear Chief-Justice, most
truly yours, ROBERT H. Lvcu^.

And Sir Robert writes later to him to Canada : —

I can hardly, without being accused of flattery (by you at
least, though by no one else), tell you how highly I appreciate
your talents and your public principles. In everything relating
to the North American Provinces of the Crown, it is a satisfac-
tion to me to think that I have not differed from you in speech
or in vote.

Sir Robert Peel writes on Thursday, 2nd April :—
MY DEAR SIR, — I am very desirous of seeing you for other
reasons than to bid you reluctantly farewell. Will you call

1 The portrait of Mr. William Wilberforce for Sir Robert Ing!
said to have "achieved " (for George Richmond, the artist) " by its happy
treatment of a difficult subject, a \v<irhl-\vidi> >uc« v<- " ("Dictionary of
National Biography — George Richmond, R.A.")

U

306 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

upon me on Saturday morning at eleven? The principle of
non-intrusion, for which my petitioners rather than I myself
contend, applies only to unwelcome appointments. — Ever, my
dear sir, most truly yours, ROBERT PEEL.

Journal continued.

Sunday, 5th April. — I dined with the Duke of Wellington,
who was so kind as to ask Lukin to accompany me.

We met Lord and Lady Wilton, Lord Adolphus Fitz
Clarence, Lord Burghersh, Colonel and Mrs. Anson, Lord
and Lady Mahon, Lord McDonell, the Austrian and Nether-
lands Ambassadors, General Alava, and several others. An
exceedingly agreeable party.

I have seen Sir Robert Peel, and was with him for more
than an hour.

He says he agrees entirely in my sentiments on the Clergy
Reserves question, but that the High Church party would not
support him in it. As to the union I see pretty clearly that
he feels it impossible to give an unqualified opposition to the
principle of union.

1th April. — At the Duke's request called on him at twelve.
He talked to me very plainly on matters here.

I asked him whether, if the Clergy Reserves Bill should be
thrown out, there was any chance that some proper measure
could be brought in here and carried. He said : " We can't do
it in our House (the Lords) because we have no power what-
ever over public measures except as acting on the defensive.
We cannot answer for our friends in the Commons.

" The cry with a certain party of our friends is ' Principle,
principle, we must stand upon principle.' I always tell them
principle is a very good thing ; I will stand upon principle
too as long as any of you, when I can see one to stand on,
but I want a principle that will fill the stomach.

" It's a very easy thing for people who live at ease in all
respects to say : ' I am satisfied, I want no change, I am for
abiding by principle.' They forget the thousands and the
millions that live in desolate places they hardly know how,

•

xi IH7KE OF WELLINGTON :*<)?

and come out and say : ' We have no bread, no rest ; we want
to be taught.1" He spoke long and feelingly and very clearly.

He said at parting, " I shall be here every day at twi-lve,
and always glad to see you when you rail."

I had a long talk with the Bishop of Exeter to-day.

8th April. — At the Duke's request I had an interview with
Lord Lyndhurst, whom I found still very weak and ill; so
much so indeed that I would not enter into particular con-
versation with him, though it was desired and intended that
I should. I feared to be the cause of injury to his health.

By request I attended a meeting at the Mansion House
for promoting the objects of the Society for Propagating the
(Jospel in I-'oreign Tar

The Archbishop spoke; the Bishop of London very elo-
quently, so also Archdeacon Wilberforce and several others.

I had been requested to second a motion, and after I got
into the room it was changed and another put into my hands.
It was late in the afternoon before my turn came, and I
perplexed between wishing to say some things, and to comply
with the impatience for dinner, and I spoke badly.

After I had done, two gentlemen came to me and begged
I would publish in pamphlet form what I had said, that it would
be very useful, as it gave information which was much wanted.

I told them it was quite impossible ; that I was to embark
ith my family in a few hours, and had not a moment of leisure.

<£1000 was collected.

Thursday, 9th April. — I called and took leave of the Duke
of Wellington. He was most friendly and confidential in his
conversation with me.

We spoke most of the Clergy Reserves question, and of the
Canadian question (the Union).

Upon the latter he said, " Whenever that question comes
on, you may depend upon this, I'll say what I think, if the
Devil stands in the door.'"

The Duke, I may here add, opposed the passage
of the Union Bill at its third reading in the House of

308 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Lords, handing in a written protest, containing his
reasons. He was firmly convinced that the measure
was an unsafe one in the interests of British connection.
Opinions have differed as to the Duke's action
and policy as a statesman, but many will agree with
a recent writer, Mr. Spencer Wilkinson, who, in
" Cromwell to Wellington " (1899), says :-

He was the strongest, loyalest, greatest, flesh-and-blood
Englishman that we, or our fathers, know of, or are likely to
know.

Those who scoff at his statesmanship mean by a statesman
a politician skilful in carrying his party to victory. Those
who prefer national to party services may possibly think that,
despite undoubted mistakes, the statesman was even greater
than the soldier, though neither of them was so great as the man.

To those in Canada it may be of interest to know
(as is more than once brought out in these pages)
how deeply Canadian questions, and the great im-
portance of the North American Colonies to England,
occupied his mind, though he had never served in
Canada.

His speech upon the Union Bill was one of his
last great efforts in the House of Lords. Lord
Mahon, afterwards Earl Stanhope, writing on 8th
November 1840, says : —

The Duke spoke with the deepest emotion, I might almost
say anguish, of the loss of Canada impending, as he fears,
from the measures of last session. I have seldom seen him
more affected.1

And Sir Francis Head writes to my father, July
18, 1840 :—

1 " Conversations with the Duke of Wellington," by Earl Stanhope.

xi DUKE OF WELLINGTON 309

The Duke, after the excitement of his last speech (against
the Union), was scixetl with another of tho>e attacks which
proceed from the flesh being too weak for the spirit. I'pper
Canada should revere his name, and you should be proud of the
manner in which you have ,all been spoken of by the «jreate>l
and simplest man of this age, or, I believe, of almost anv age.

The Duke in his M Protest" referred to the
" loyalty, gallantry, and exertions of the local troops,
militia and volunteers, of the province of Upper
Canada,11 stating that the "operations in the recent
insurrection and rebellion had tended to show that
the military resources and qualities of the inhabitants
of Upper Canada have not deteriorated since the
War ; " and that in that War (of 1812-15) it had been
" demonstrated that these provinces (with but little
assistance from the Mother Country in regular troops)
are capable of defending themselves against all the
efforts of their powerful neighbours.

The strong views held by the Duke as to the im-
portance of the Canadas to England made it natu-
rally more difficult for him, than for those not holding
them to the same extent, to accept the measure of
the Union, which, he feared, might possibly lead to
their separation from the Crown.

His opinion was (see page 294) : " If you lose that
(viz., Upper Canada) you lose all your Colonies in that
country ; and, if you lose them, you may as well lose
London." He advocated the expenditure of large
sums, which no Government of his day would grant,
for the defence of the Canadian frontier (page 284).
He urged the establishment of an arsenal, &c., on the
Niagara frontier, which was not carried out (page 68).
He caused the construction of the Rldeau Canal,

310 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

chiefly with a view to defence1 (page 330), and he
repeatedly pressed upon Ministers the necessity of
securing naval superiority upon the Lakes (page 69).

Sir Robert Peel would, no doubt, under certain
circumstances (see his letter of 10th January 1839,
pages 275-77), have fought for the maintenance of
the Canadas, but he was impressed with the gravity of
the obligation to do so, and their loss would evidently
not have been felt by him to be the serious blow to
England that the Duke would have regarded it.

He (Sir Robert) writes thus, on the 16th May 1842,
to Lord Aberdeen,2 at a time when there was friction
between Great Britain and the United States on the
subject of the boundary line between New Brunswick
and Maine,3 and disputes between the Mother Country'
and Canada were going on as to the Canadian civil
list :—

If there is not a British party in the Canadas sufficient to
put down these attempts at renewed conflicts, I for one should
be much disposed to hold high language. Let us keep Nova
Scotia and New Brunswick, for their geographical position
makes their sea-coast of great importance to us ; but the con-
nection with the Canadas, against their will — nay, without the
cordial co-operation of the predominant party in Canada — is a
very onerous one. The sooner we have a distinct understand-
ing on that head the better ; the advantage of commercial in-
tercourse is all on the side of the Colony, or at least is not in
favour of the Mother Country.

1 Dr. Widmer, of Toronto, who had served in the Peninsular War,
writing to my father when it was contemplated to make Ottawa the
Dominion seat of Government, says : " The Great Duke's spirit nods assent
— his sagacity foresaw this when he planned the Rideau Canal."

2 " Sir Robert Peel, from his Private Papers/' by C. S. Parker (1899),
vol. iii. pp. 387-89.

3 Afterwards settled by the treaty termed by Lord Palmerston the
" Ashburton Capitulation" (Alison's " History of Europe/' 1815 to 1852,
p. 320).

xi RETURN TO CANADA 311

But, above all, if the people are not cordially with us, why
should we contract the tremendous obligation of having to de-
fend, on a point of honour, their territory against American
aggression ? Let us fight to the last for the point of honour if
the people are with us; in that case we cannot abandon them.
But if they are not with us, or if they will not cordially sup-
port and sustain those measures which we consider necessary for
their good government and for the maintenance of a safe con-
nection with them, let us have a friendly separation while there
is yet time.

On Friday, 10th April 1840, my father with his
family sailed for New York in the Quebec. a sailing ship,
and reached Portsmouth on the Tuesday following.

Sir John Pakington sent him the first copy he
had seen of the new Union Bill (which reached him
just before he sailed), and writes :—

I presume you have seen the Union Bill — but I will send you
a copy from the House this evening to ensure your having it.

How very provoking that you should be obliged to sail just
before the debates on the Clergy Reserves in the Lords, and on
the Union in the Commons, both of which are fixed for Monday
the 13th.

The Bishop of Exeter, with whom he had many
interviews in connection with Church questions,
also writes warmly to him, 9th April :—

Once more, in the full sense of the phrase, and from my
heart — "God bless you." — Ever faithfully and affectionately
yours, H. EXKI

And Sir Francis Head, in a letter of 10th April
which apparently reached him at Portsmouth :—

You are at this moment, I hope, with a fair wind floating
towards the Nore. I had fully intended to have said good-bye,
but you were not at home, and, as I drove away, I felt almost glad
that it was so, for it would only have given me pain to have
attempted to say much which I hope it is not necessary I should

312 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

express. When you write to me about politics, say something
also about your health, as to which I am anxious. — With great
regard, yours very affectionately, F. B. HEAD.

From Portsmouth he wrote to Bishop Strachan : —

It was an anxious moment to leave England, but there was
no help for it.

My leave had expired, and the Governor-General (Mr.
Thompson) on the one side, and Messrs. Hume and Leader on
the other side of the Atlantic, were so impatient to have me
fairly shipped, that the Secretary of State was at no loss as to
excuses for his anxiety on the subject.

I made no application to remain longer, and consistently
with the respect due to myself, I could not have done it.

After an average voyage, with some hard gales,
but much fair weather and often light baffling winds,
the Quebec sighted Long Island at daylight on the
15th May, and on the 16th was becalmed, just out-
side of the Hook near New York.

At 11 A.M. on the 16th a small steamer came out
and took her in tow, and they landed at New York
at 2 P.M.

My father, in concluding his Journal, says : —

The British Queen (a steamer) passed us the night before,
quite near, having left Portsmouth seventeen days after we did.
We had a most lovely day for entering the harbour of New
York. The scene was quite enchanting. . . .

We found John here waiting for us. He tells us all are
well at home. God be praised.

Eight hundred of the inhabitants of Toronto
welcomed him upon his return (on 1st June 1840)
with an address, in which they expressed their appre-
ciation of his efforts in England "to promote the
interests of Upper Canada," and "their pleasure at
seeing him once more among them."

CHAPTER XII

JUDICIAL LIFE— HOME LI IK
1840-51

Judicial life Separation of the office- of President of Executive and
Speaker of' Legislative Council from that of Chief-Justice Address
fcO Grand Joiy Importance Of tlM .Judicature heinif kept free from
Mi>picion of political hias Statute liook of I pper Canad-i Allusions
to his work while upon the Bench Changes in Canada during his
lifetime - The /,'/(/• Jnnrnal as to him — I'uhlic intr
\Vellaiul and Kideau canals J^ake navigation The Canadian
Institute — Church work in Canada Lord Sydenham's death -
Keferenco to my father hy Sir F. Head and Sir d. Arthur
to IVu-rhorou^h ( 'olonel Talhot — I lome life Appointed Companion
of the Hath — Visit to Virginia.

MY father's work upon the Bench, extending over the
long period from 1829 to 1863, was unquestionably
that to which the very best energies of the best
years of his life were continuously devoted, and in
connection with which his name will he chiefly
remembered in Canada.

After 1840 his duties became entirely judicial,
for it was considered by the Government, on his
return from England in 1840, to be inexpedient that
he should resume his position of Speaker of the
Legislative Council. This was in consequence of
a pending measure, under which those connected
with the administration of justice were not to hold
any political or other Government office.

Few will be found to contest the general wisdom
of this measure — under which the Judicature wn>,
dissociated from all connection with politics — carried
out in 1841, and I may add that no one was more

313

314 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

fully alive than my father, while on the Bench, to
the importance of keeping the administration of
justice free from all suspicion of political bias.

In connection with this I may quote from one of
his addresses to the Grand Jury in 1837 : —

GENTLEMEN OF THE GRAND JURY —

You delivered into Court yesterday a paper addressed
to me in which you acquainted me that you had made a
representation to his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor on
various subjects connected with the welfare of your district,
which representation you requested me to transmit to his
Excellency.

I took it for granted that your representation related either
to the subject of the gaol or to some matter connected with
the administration of justice, or with the local interests of this
district ; and being occupied in the trial of a cause, I had no
leisure at the moment to peruse it.

I have now read it, and I find that it is an expression of
opinion upon various subjects of general policy, important no
doubt to the people of the province, but having no immediate
connection with the administration of justice.

I have a strong reluctance as a judge to be made the
channel of such a communication, and from respect to the
Grand Jury I will state my reasons.

The business of this Court is to administer justice, and
we cannot too closely confine ourselves to it. His Majesty 's
subjects should all feel that they stand here upon an equal
footing. We have to do with rights in this place, and with
opinions only so far as they bear upon those rights. To
deviate to the debatable ground of politics would be departing
from our proper sphere.

Since I have been upon the Bench, a period of more than
seven years, I have not been asked to become the medium of
conveying an address to the Executive Government upon any
subject not immediately connected with the duties of the
Court, and, upon this first occasion, I feel it to be my duty
to discourage it.

xii JUDICIAL LI IK

You will understand from this, gentlemen, that I hope
you will withdraw your request to me to transmit \our repre-
sentations to his Excellency, and you will excuse my stating
frankly to you that opinions on the subjects discussed in this
representation would more properly, as I think, be withheld by
you while acting in the capacity of Grand Jurors.

Every man in the community is interested in guarding the
administration of justice from suspicion, misconstruction, or
reproach. . . .

But the system under which he first entered
judicial lite and presided as Chief-Justice in the
Legislative Council was, nevertheless, not without
some advantages,1 and the journals of the Council
show how his presence in it had enabled him to in-
troduce and carry through many beneficial measures,
especially of a legal character, which from his ex-
perience— gained in great part upon the Bench-
he saw to be advantageous.

They are evidence also that the " Statute-Book "
of Upper Canada, of which Lord Durham speaks as
follows, was largely his work :—

The " Statute- Book " of the Upper Province abounds with
useful and well-constructed measures of reform.

That the business of the Courts was not retarded
by the demands of politics upon his time, but was
diligently earned out, is sufficiently evinced by the
fact that on the day on which the union of the
provinces was proclaimed, there was not one case,
civil or criminal, which had been argued, remaining
undecided in the Court of Queen's Bench.

1 It is interesting to note that in England the Lord (.'hanrdlor -till
sits in the House of Lords, and goes in and out with the (iovernment.

316 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Mr. Fennings Taylor,1 alluding to his judicial life,
writes : —

From the time when his connection with political affairs
closed, he ceased to be the property of a party. Then, and to
the end of his life, he belonged to the province. He grew irre-
sistibly and with noiseless force in the good-will and affections
of the people. Men no longer remembered the ardent politician
and skirmishes at elections. They only recollected the upright
judge and his consistent and laborious life.

It is a true description of his life to speak of it as
being " laborious " as well as consistent.

It left him but little leisure for other occupations
or for any recreation. My recollection of him is that
hour after hour, and for days together, he was at his
library desk, when not at Court or on circuit ; but
always extraordinarily patient of interruption, and
able in an exceptional way, when for a time he cast
his work aside, to throw it off his mind.

In August 1848 he writes to his sister, Mrs. Boul-
ton, when the Court was sitting : —

It is vexatious to be obliged as I am to spend every day and
all day in Court, coming home weary, sometimes at six, some-
times at seven, and commonly working from the time I get up
till I set out for Court. This, I suppose, is to be a history of
my existence for the rest of my days.

And so it was — and so it is the history of many
another Judge upon the Bench.

The following sketch of him is given in the
Toronto Courier of 24th March 1835, under the
signature of " Alan Fairford " :—

Portraits of British Americans," by Femiiugs Taylor (1866).

xii .imiC'IAI, LIFE 317

SKETCH OF THE Cmn-.h >,

In Israel's Courts ne'er sat an Abethdin
With more discerning eye, or hands more clean ;
Unbribed, unsought, the wretched to redress,
Swift of despatch, and easy of access. —

In picturing to ourselves the character and person of a
judge, we usually invest him with solemnity of appearance.
venerable old age, and features furrowed hv intense and de-
liberate thought.

These distinguishing marks, however, do not appertain to the
Chief-Justice of I'pper Canada. Comparatively speaking, he
is a young Judge — young in appearance, young in manner,
young in everything but knowledge and virtue.

The Chief-Justice has but one object, and that is the good
of the province, and all the weight that, he can command he
throws into the scale of con>titutional liberty and good govern-
ment. Not only are we indebted to him for the dignified im-
partiality with which he administers justice, for his laborious
research, his swiftness of despatch, his ea>ine» of access; not
only are we indebted to him for the masterly charges constantly
delivered to the Grand Juries, explaining recent enactments,
and suggesting improvements where the law is defective; but
to him we owe anything like a statute-book.

The Bills, as may be easily imagined, are, when sent up from
the Lower House,2 thickly studded with blunders, contra-
dictions, imperfections numberless. Those the Chief-Justice
corrects, expunges, reconciles, and amends.

Fortunately for the province he cast his lot in it. He is
not a worldly-minded man, and to live in the honourable esti-
mation and in the hearts of his fellow-subjects is no doubt
dearer to him than the accumulation of wealth; but in Eng-
land he would have ranked with the Sugdens and the Wether-
ells, the Knights, the Pembertons, and the Folletts.

1 From Dryden's poem of "Absalom and Ahithophel."

2 i.e. from the House of Assembly to the Legislative Council, of which
he was Speaker. |

318 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

All who come within his influence love him and imbibe for
him that personal regard and individual attachment which so
few have the power of inspiring.

To touch even slightly to any advantage upon
the more important of those judgments which he
delivered while he sat upon the Bench, would require
a legal training and knowledge which I do not
possess, and also unduly lengthen these pages.

Mr. Read, in his " Lives of the Judges," alluding
to him, writes : —

On his elevation to the Bench, the Chief-Justice found
himself called upon to administer and interpret laws, a very
considerable part of the statutory portion of which he had
either framed or assisted in framing. It would be idle to
attempt to give even a synopsis of the decisions come to by
him during the thirty-three years he was Chief-Justice of the
Queen's Bench. It is sufficient to say that during this whole
period, the longest ever attained by any Chief-Justice or Judge
in the province, he was looked up to as the Head of the Bench,
and that his decisions, contained in thirty volumes of reports,
uniformly had the respect of the Bar.

But while I abstain from any attempt to enter
into details of his legal work, I am sensible that not
to dwell to some extent upon those labours, which
formed the main interest and occupation of his life,
and constituted really his chief life-task, would be to
represent him but very imperfectly.

There are few official positions in a nation which
involve greater responsibility, or in which the efficient
and scrupulous discharge of duty is more necessary,
or more influences the character and well-being of
the community, than that of the Head of the Courts
of Justice.

Of this my father was very sensible, and nothing,

xii JUDICIAL LIFE 319

I think, would have given him greater satisfaction
than to have been able to feel, as I hope he could feel,
that he had contributed in an appreciable degree
towards creating and maintaining in Canada that con-
fidence in the integrity of the Bench which exists,
I believe, throughout the entire country.

To maintain the purity and dignity of the Courts,
and to increase the estimation in which the decisions
of the Canadian Hench l were held in the Mother
Country, were aims never absent from his mind.

His journals from which I have quoted in preced-
ing chapters, and that of 1855 (chapter xiv.), allud-
ing frequently to legal topics and persons, show with
what great interest, when in England, he followed
the proceedings of the English Courts ; and from
them is to be gathered what chiefly struck him.

While he enjoyed a joke as much as any one, and
could appreciate the witty good humour of a Baron
Parke, he disliked foolish levity, and any want of
decorum in Courts of Justice, as well as the badger-
ing of witnesses on the part of counsel.2

The law had been undoubtedly the profession of his
choice, and its study, practice, and administration had
occupied him, more or less uninterruptedly, from the
time he entered Mr. Boulton's law office in 1807
until his death, while President of the Court of Error
and Appeal, in 1863.

Having become Acting Attorney-General at a
very early age, and entered the Legislature when
young, he was from official position closely concerned
with the law of Upper Canada and its modifications
for more than half a century.

1 As to this, see pages 326 aud 375. 2 See pages 82, 85-S6.

320 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

He had grown up, it may be said, with the Upper
Province of Canada and with the city of Toronto,
from their birth, for he was born in the year (1791) in
which Upper Canada commenced its statutory exist-
ence,1 and in the following year (1792) his father
moved with him to Kingston, and thence (in 1798)
to York, which was then but a small village sur-
rounded by forest.2

From that time he lived in York (Toronto) until
within four years of the province becoming incor-
porated into the present Dominion,3 and until its
population was, roughly speaking, about that of the
whole of Upper Canada when his father and he first
came into it.4

As I have before said, many of his earlier circuits
were made more or less on horseback, owing to the
indifference of even the main roads throughout the
country.

His life comprised an important and progressive
period, not only in the history of Canada, but of
other parts of the world, and it need scarcely be said
that the events in Europe and Great Britain exercised
a great influence on the North American Colonies.

In the year in which he was born, French law in
matters of property and civil rights governed all
Canada, and the French Revolution was going on.

Then followed the struggle with Napoleon, out
of which grew the war between Great Britain and

1 Under the Constitutional Act of 1791.

2 The population of York five years afterwards, in 1803, is given as
456. I have heard my father say that he had seen a bear killed on what
is now King Street, Toronto.

3 Under the Confederation (British North America) Act of 1867.

4 In 1800, two years after my father came to York, the population of
Upper Canada was but 50,000. That of Toronto the year after his death
was 49,000.

xii JUDICIAL LIFE 321

the United States of 1812-15, of which Canada was
mainly the scene.

After this came the passage of the Reform Bill in
England, the repeal of the Corn Laws, the repeal
of the Test and Corporation Acts, the Canadian Re-
hellion, the Union of the Canadas, and the Revo-
lutionary period in Europe of 1848-49. Church,
educational, and fiscal questions were subjects of much
attention and no little legislation. Railways, steamers,
and the telegraph were introduced, and new interests
of every kind were created in Upper Canada, where
the population kept increasing by leaps and bounds.

It can be easily seen that all this had its effect
upon the work of those connected with the law, which
in Upper Canada as elsewhere had to keep pace with,
and adapt itself to, the changing circumstances of
the country.

It may help some to realise how much the
Toronto of my father's boyhood differed from that
of to-day, and how much legal punishments have
changed in the interim, to mention, that in Robert-
son's " Landmarks of Toronto," and Read's " Lives

the Judges " we read l that the stocks and pillory
continued in use in York for some years after the
beginning of the last century ; and that in 1807, when
my father first became a law-student, a prisoner was
convicted before Chief- Justice Scott, at the Criminal
Court of the Home District, for stealing five shillings,
and sentenced to banishment for seven years.

Slaves were sold in York in 1806, when my
father was fifteen years old, and possibly later ; for

1 " Landmarks of Toronto," by J. Ross Robertson (1894), p. 62 ; Read's
" Lives of the Judges," pp. 64 and 78.

X

5

322 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

although on 9th July 1793 an Act 1 passed at Niagara
in the second session of the Upper Canadian Legisla-
ture had rendered illegal their introduction into the
province, the rights of property in slaves then in
servitude there, were not interfered with.

From what has been said it can be readily under-
stood how very many must have been the alterations
in the Law of Upper Canada within the time of my
father's close connection with it, and I will now
quote from what he himself writes as to some of these
changes, and other matters connected with his judi-
cial work.

Writing in 1854, he says :—

I received my commission as Chief- Justice on the 13th
July 1829, and from that time to this (30th March 1854), I
have filled the office, having been once only absent from my
duty in 1838 and '39, in consequence of ill-health.

In that period wonderful changes have occurred. The
population of Upper Canada has risen from 240,000 to above a
million, and of the town in which I live, from 3000 to 40,000.
A Court of Chancery has been introduced, and having been
placed at the head of a Court of Appeal from its decisions, I
have been, in fact, made a Judge in Equity as well as Law.

The most difficult and important cases from that Court
have been brought before me and my brother Judges in
" Appeal " — a duty wholly unknown to our predecessors.
Municipal Councils have been introduced, and we have to try
the legality of elections and to determine the validity of bye-
laws, in relation to some hundreds of municipalities — for every
county, township, city, town, and considerable village has its
Municipal Council.

Banks, insurance companies, railway companies, and corpora-

1 Mr. Read ("Lives of the Judges") points out that it is a matter for
just pride in Canada that the Upper Province, at a time when neither the
Mother Country nor the Republic of the United States had abolished
slavery, led the van towards its suppression by this Act.

xii JUDICIAL LIFE 323

tions of all kinds have sprung up, giving rise to new inter
and to a great variety of new legal questions, so that if I were
to say that the duties and responsibilities of the office of Chief-
Justice have increased fivefold during my tenure of it, I am
not sure that I should state more than is true. The number of
Assi/e. towns has grown from eleven to thirty.

Of the fifteen English Judges, Baron Parke alone was on
the Bench when I was appointed. I can remember the Chief-
. I ust ice being changed in Lower Canada, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, lYiuce Edward's Island, Newfoundland, the three
Indian Presidencies, Ceylon, Mauritius, the Cape, Jamaica.
Trinidad, Tobago, Bahama, Bermuda, Dominica, and I believe
the fact is the same in everv colony.

I can add, with some degree of satisfaction, that in the

i v-tbur years I speak of there have been but five appeals

from this province to England, three in important equity cases,

and two in common law. In all the judgment has been

affirmed, and no judgment given in our Court has been reversed.

This is but an uncertain test of their correctness, though it
affords a favourable presumption; and at least the profession
and the public will always have the means of estimating and
examining the labours of the Court, for our decisions are in
regular course of publication, and they already fill fifteen
volumes.

It is also satisfactory to be able to say that during the last
twenty-four years there has been no arrear of business in the
Court of Queen's Bench. I do not mean merely to say that
there has been no great arrear, nor for any long time, but
that there has been absolutely none.

Many years ago, I had an Act passed which allows the Court
to meet at the expiration of ten days after the end of each
term, for the purpose only of giving judgments in matters that
have been argued. This enables us to dispose speedily of all
such questions and applications as the Judges can readily agree
upon, after opportunity of conference among themselves. Those
cases which present questions of greater difficulty, and of which
the Judges cannot at once bring themselves to take the same
view, must of course stand over for consideration to the next
term, when judgment is sure to be pronounced — unless in an

324 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

occasional case, kept open at the desire of the parties, or in
which some further elucidation is indispensable.

Thus it frequently happens that when we have delivered our
judgments, we do not leave a case undisposed of which has ever
been mentioned in the Court, and are as clear of business in a
tribunal which has been open for sixty years, in a country con-
taining now a million of people, among whom commerce and
the transferring of property, and all those pursuits which give
rise to litigation and legal questions, are carried on with great
activity, as if it had been open but a day.

I need riot say that it is not without constant attention and
great labour that this has been accomplished.

Except my illness in 1838, I have been singularly favoured
with good health ; and I have in all those particulars which are
most essential to happiness the greatest cause for thankfulness.

I conclude my reference to his judicial life by an
extract from the Law Journal as to it.1

Sir John Robinson was, we believe, the youngest Chief-
Justice that ever sat in a British Court of Justice. His
reputation at the Bar had qualified him for the post, for he
certainly had no equal in his day, and his judicial career has
established the propriety of his early elevation.

We know not in which judicial capacity we admired him
most. At nisi prius he presided with calmness, courtesy, and
dignity. His strict impartiality and love of truth were pro-
verbial; and whether it was a Queers counsel or the most
inexperienced barrister on the rolls, he paid the same attention
to his argument, and gave to each equal consideration and
protection. His love of order, and his sense of the respect due
to the dignity of a court of justice, made him prompt to sup-
press any indecorum; and when disapproval or even censure
was called for, he befittingly expressed his opinion, though
always in a courteous manner. His addresses to the jury were
delivered with ease and grace, and were clothed in the clearest
and simplest language. In sentencing prisoners, full of tender-

1 From the Law Journal of Upper Canada, March 1863.

xii JUDICIAL LIFE

ness and compassion, he indicated the charitable feelings of his
heart; and the kind and wholesome advice he was in the habit
of giving to those who had entered on a career of crime, and
for whose reformation there was yet some hope, wa> marked by
the deepest feeling. Some of his charges to Grand Juries are
masterpieces in their way, and his addresses on public occasions
were remarkable for their erudition, and classic beauty. One
of the finest of these addresses he delivered on laying the foun-
dation-stone of the Provincial Lunatic Asylum. It will bear
favourable comparison with similar productions of the ablest
writers, and its vein of thought and purity of style can scarcely
be surpassed.1

In full Court, Sir John Robinson was always the pride and
favourite of the Bar. The reputation he enjoyed, and the
\u-ight of his opinion, greatly increased the business of the
Court in which he presided. He was always distinguished for
his readiness and acuteness, and he had seldom any difficulty in
grasping the most intricate cases. In his hands the business of
the Court was never in arrear, and the. knowledge of unfinished
work was a burthen on his mind to relieve himself from which
he would use the most strenuous exertion. Few opinions will
ever command more respect or carry more weight than those
delivered by Sir John Robinson. They are remarkable for
their lucid argument, deep learning, strict impartiality, and
pure justice; they are untainted by fanciful theories, prejudice,
or political bias ; and they bear evidence of that careful re-
search, that deep thought, that unwearied application and un-
tiring patience, which he brought to bear on every subject that
under his consideration. In whatever branch of juris-
prudence we examine his judgments, we find evidence of his
intense study. Equity or common law, civil or criminal law,
pleading, practice, and evidence — all exhibit the same copious-
ness of research, and the profound comprehensiveness of his
legal attainments. He may be said to have studied law as a
science, but in the words of Mr. Whiteside, "he objected to
the triumph of form over substance, of technicality over truth ; *

1 See some extracts from this address in chap, xvi., pp. 404, 405.

326 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

and though he gave to legal objections their full force and
effect, his quick apprehension of facts soon separated the chaff
from the grain.

As an equity judge, Sir John Robinson was no less entitled
to respect than in the Courts of common law. One of the most
important appeals was the case of Simpson v. Smith (Error
and Appeal Cases), where the Court of Chancery held that
under the llth section of the Chancery Act of this province
they might, under certain circumstances, refuse redemption
notwithstanding twenty years had not elapsed since the mort-
gagor went out of possession. In the result of this case an
immense tract of land and important interests were at stake;
it involved the whole of the property known as Smith's Falls.
The judgment of the Court of Chancery was appealed from to
the four Judges who at that time sat in the Court of Appeal.
They were equally divided in opinion, and the case was carried
to England. There the Court was unanimous, and the Right
Hon. Pemberton Leigh (now Lord Kingsdown) remarked, with
reference to the judgment of the Chief- Justice, that " he never
saw a judgment more elaborately and carefully reasoned, or
more admirably expressed."

The last case of public interest which occurred during the
period Sir John Robinson presided in the Court of Queen's
Bench was the famous Anderson Extradition case.1 The sym-
pathy that was evinced both here and in England on behalf of
the fugitive, is of too recent date to be forgotten. Opinions
were freely expressed ; public meetings were held ; newspapers
teemed with leading articles, and the anti-slavery views of their
correspondents; and even the judgment of the Court was
anticipated.

The following week the judgment of the Court was de-
livered in favour of the surrender of the prisoner, M'Lean, J.,
dissenting; and though their judgment was neither in support
of nor against slavery, but based entirely upon the consideration
of the treaty existing between the United States and Canada,

1 John Anderson, a fugitive slave in the United States, having killed
Seneca Diggs, who attempted to arrest him, escaped to Canada. In 1860
his extradition for murder was demanded under the provisions of the
Ashburton treaty of 1842.

xii JUDICIAL LIFE 327

so strongly prejudiced was public opinion that tin- popularity
of the Bench seemed likely to suffer. But, in the words of an
able Fn^l ish contemporary, "These Judges, proof against un-
popularity, and unswayed by their own hitter hatred of sla
as well as unsoftencd by their own feeling* for a fellow-man in
agonising peril, upheld the law made to their hands, and which
they Ji re sworn faithfullv to administer. /«'//// jitst'ifm. (ii\e
them their due. Such men are the ballast of nations.'*'' The
case was afterwards brought up before the Court of Common
IMe.-is; and having been argued there on a technical point that
had not been raised in the Queen's Bench, the prisoner was dis-
charged.

Canada has never had a Judge- who so completely enjoyed
the confidence of the entire legal profession as Sir John Robin-
son. His natural affability, his unassumed dignity and un-
ruflled temper, made him not onlv revered but even loved.
By his brother Judges he was regarded with admiration, and no
opinion were they so anxious to obtain, or valued so highly.
The proudest of the Bar had never to complain that th
eeived no credit at his hands for eloquence or ability, and the
humblest barrister \\ho occupied the farthest bench had never
to murmur that his feeble efforts met with no encouragement.
Even the youngest student approached him with respectful
assurance, and there are many who will recall with grateful
remembrance the kind and assisting hand he extended to them.
To all he exhibited the same patient attention and equality of
temper; and it was truly remarked, by the learned treasurer of
the Law Society, that during all the time he sat on the Bench,
xtending over a period of nearly the third of a century, no
one could recall an unkind expression, or remember a single
instance of impatience. But the appreciation of his judicial
services was not confined to the precincts of the Courts. The
whole country has borne testimony to his worth. People had
long been accustomed to look with confidence to his decisions,
to regard the purity of his administration of justice as the
foundation of their liberties, and his impartiality as the palla-
dium of their most cherished rights. Nothing that we can pen
will add to the unsullied purity of his character, for never did

328 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

ermine grace truer nobility. Blameless did he preserve the
chastity of his oath. With no cause unheard, no judgment
perverted, "he did well and faithfully serve our Lady the
Queen and her people in the office of Justice; he did equal
law and execution of right to all the Queen's subjects, rich and
poor, without having regard to any person. "

To pass from my father's more purely judicial life
to his other interests and occupations, I may say that
up to his death he supported to the utmost of his
power all public enterprises, which he considered to
be of advantage to the province.

The severance of the ex-qffido offices of President
of the Executive, and Speaker of the Legislative
Council, from that of Chief-Justice reduced his
official salary after 1840 by about one-fourth,1 and
the head of the Bench in Upper Canada received from
that date a smaller income than the holder of the
office had drawn in the early days of the Province.

This, of course, affected him seriously in a pecu-
niary sense, and he writes as to it :-—

When I withdrew from the office of Attorney- General and
a leading practice at the Bar, had I imagined that, after years
of increasing labour, I should be liable to have a large portion
of my income suddenly withdrawn, I could never have ventured
to place myself at my age (he was then thirty-eight), in a
situation so precarious.

But it has been the results of changes over which the
Government in England and here have probably felt that they
could exert little influence ; and I have neither made any appli-
cation to the Legislature which alone could give redress, nor
have I desired that any should be made on my behalf.

I feel that I am within the truth when I add

1 £460 a year, or over £500 Canadian currency. See Appendix A., vi.

xii WELL AND fcf RIDEAU CANALS

that he regretted the reduction in the emoluments
pertaining to the post of Chief-Justice as much upon
public as personal grounds, as it affected the ability
of the holder of it, when not a wealthy man, to sup-
port many objects of public utility to the same
extent which had formerly been possible.

He took a deep interest in the promotion of the
Welland Canal, and also, though not to the same
direct extent, in the Rideau Canal.

The directors of the former canal wrote to him
thus on the 5th June 18:3,** :—

As one of the first and most efficient supporters of the
Welland Canal, the Board of Directors have the satisfaction to
inform you that for the purpose of testing its great importance
as a public work, it is now completed, though much has yet to
be done to make it such as it should be for the greaK>l
usefulness. . . .

With a full knowledge of the great interests of the country,
and the beneficial effect of this work upon its prosperity, you
were its warm and decided advocate.

When the prospect of its success was clouded with doubt,
when many of its friends were appalled, and some relaxed their
efforts to sustain it, the Board always placed a confident reli-
ance on your powerful aid, and were never disappointed. . . .

On behalf of the country, as well as the stockholders, we
offer to you our grateful acknowledgments of your efficient and
undeviating support in the most trying emergencies during
the whole time this great work has been in progress to its
accomplishment.

With the highest respect and esteem,

We are, sir, your most obedient servants,
A. MA< IJOXKLL,
GFO. KEEPER,

OGDEN CREIGHTON,
W. BUTLER,
W. ELLIOTT,

Directors.

330 SIR JOHN EEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Speaking, in " Canada and the Canada Bill," of
the importance of the Welland and Rideau Canals,
he says : —

Upper Canada has been greatly favoured by the liberality
of the parent State. The Welland Canal was assisted by a loan
of X°50,000 ; and the Rideau Canal was constructed wholly at
the charge of Great Britain. The former work has been for
some time completed, and in use, though a large expenditure is
required for substituting stone locks instead of the wooden
ones, which it was necessary to be content with in the first
instance. In its present state, it effectually overcomes the ob-
structions presented by the Falls of Niagara to the communi-
cation between Lakes Ontario and Erie. The income derived
from it has probably doubled in a twelvemonth. It is clear
that under such circumstances reimbursement, though it may
be distant, is certain.

The Rideau Canal was undertaken while the Duke of Wel-
lington was in office, and with a view chiefly to the military
defence of the province. Its value in that respect is apparent.
It secures the defence of Canada, up to Kingston, by affording
a passage for troops and military and naval stores, independent
of the St. Lawrence, and it remedies the evil of that singular
arrangement by which a small streamlet parting from the
waters of the St. Lawrence and coursing round Barnhart's
Island was accepted as the main channel of the river, though
it is easily fordable by persons on horseback or on foot : and
the effect is to bring us almost within pistol shot of what has
thus been made the territory of the United States.

I think the time is not distant when it will cause some
feeling of regret that the officer who planned it, and with such
remarkable energy and spirit carried it forward to its comple-
tion, should have died without receiving some mark of honour
from his country. I speak of the late Colonel By.1

In the American war of 1812, it cost, I believe, upwards of
<£°500,000 to build one ship of war on Lake Ontario; the
heaviest part of the expense being occasioned by the transpor-

1 Bytown (now Ottawa), was called after Colonel By, R.E., who
planned this work. See note, p. 310.

xii LAKE NAVIGATION 331

tation of her stores and equipment from Montreal to Kingston,
which two points are now connected by the Rideau Canal.

He actively encouraged the improvement of water
communication on the Lakes.

Captain Richardson — one of the well-known pio-
neers of steam navigation on Lake Ontario, and
who, in 1842, named the steamer which for some
years plied between Toronto and Niagara The Chief-
Justice Robinson, thus warmly acknowledges the
support he received from him :—

I came to this country with two letters of introduction.
The one failed me, the other \\as invaluable. I struggled for
years ineffectually, until your sound advice and generous sup-
port enabled me to get up a steamboat.

You know how my enterprise would have been crushed but
for your generous friendship in energetically coming to my rescue.

Successful at last, and prosperous for many years, still I
often experienced many difficulties, and in all I unhesitatingly
flew to you for advice, and ever met the same friendly support.

In n i_ m and sorrow your heart seemed to warm the

more towards me.

For some years he was president of the Canadian
Institute in Toronto, and contributed towards its
building fund and library.

He took a deep interest in the " Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," a
society most liberal in its assistance to Canada, and
which in 1839 was sustaining very many of its mis-
sionaries. Of this he was for some years one of the
treasurers for Upper Canada and afterwards vice-
president.

He was also interested in the " Society for the
Promotion of Christian Knowledge," and in the

332 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

" Church Society of the Diocese of Toronto," founded
chiefly through the efforts of Dr. Strachan.

The object of this latter society was to " promote
the advancement of religion through the ministry of
the Church of England " by the dissemination of the
Scriptures, by assisting resident and travelling mis-
sionaries, the clergy and their families, by promoting
Sunday and parochial schools, and in various other
ways.

In a letter addressed to Dr. Strachan on llth
December 1841, when the establishment of this
society was being discussed, he urges the necessity
that existed, under the circumstances of Upper
Canada, for the friends of the Church to turn their
attention without delay to the best means of provid-
ing for its support and increase, and dwelt upon the
advantage of having a lay committee in the society—

What I contemplate (he writes) is the promoting the sup-
port of the Church of England in a spirit and by measures
which shall be wholly unexceptionable; giving no just cause of
offence or jealousy to any, but with a constancy and fidelity
that shall not abate in the slightest degree from an appre-
hension of what persons, who choose to act in an unchristian
and unreasonable spirit, may think, or say, or do.

Of the above society, he was a vice-president, and
also one of the lay committee which was formed.

In alluding to his having moved two resolutions
on the 28th April 1842, when the society was for-
mally founded, the Church newspaper says : —

He (the Chief-Justice) avowed his determination to devote
himself, with an earnest zeal, to the furtherance of the import-
ant object of which his own provident and comprehensive mind
had already seen the necessity ; and for carrying out which he
had himself proposed a scheme of the most permanent and ex-
pansive character.

xn CHURCH WORK

The good work done by this society is well known
in Upper Canada.

In efforts to procure an adequate endowment for
the see of Toronto, he exerted himself actively ; and,
in short, it may be said that in all matters connected
with the Church, while keeping to what was befitting
his position on the Bench, he was always ready to
give his utmost support and assistance.

Very frequently his advice on these matters was
sought by Bishop Strachan.

In certain respects their minds were differently
constituted, though on many subjects they cordially
agreed. This the following extracts from letters
illustrate : —

I have read your Lordship's proposed letter carefully, but
have made no change in it, because I can understand that if
your Lordship adopts the course, you will determine to carry it
out in the spirit in which it is begun — that you will make the
design and execution correspond.

I say this with reference to many expressions which read
strong- &nd threatening-; and which, as human nature is generally
constituted, would drive those who are addressed to persevere in
their course rather than otherwise — in fact, scarcely leave it in
their power to recede from it. ... Whether anything is to be
effected by threatening a violent opposition is matter of opinion
on which people will differ. . . . Still that can exempt no one
from the obligation to do what he believes to be right. . . .

I have read over your Lordship's pastoral letter with very
great and sincere pleasure, and have seldom or never seen in
any paper so little that I would desire to see changed, either as
to the matter or the form of words. It is very characteristic,
clear and unflinching, earnest and practical. I have no doubt
it will be very cordially received by the members of the Church
and warmly seconded. I send a scrap which may come in per-
haps in place of a sentence on the third page.

334 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

I find the thanks of the Church Society conveyed
to him formally in 1846 for the grant of 1| acres ot
land in the village of St. Albans for the site of a
church there, and again in 1849 for that of about ten
acres of land east of the Don towards the endowment
of the living of Trinity Church, Toronto.

Already, in chapter vii., I have mentioned a grant
for the site of a Methodist Church at Holland
Landing.

But I will refer no further to this subject, nor to
his charitable donations of various kinds, for I feel
that he would not himself have desired it.

His relations with those who represented the
Queen in the colony were, of necessity, less constant
and intimate after his connection with the Executive
Council and the Legislature had ceased, but he re-
tained the regard and confidence of them all — from
Sir Charles Bagot to Lord Monck — until his death.

The opinions of the representatives of the Crown
with whom he had worked in the earlier and more
troublous times of Canada must have been more
than gratifying to him.

Those of Sir Gordon Drummond and of Lord
Seaton appear sufficiently in this memoir.

Sir Francis Head writes thus in his work, " The
Emigrant," published in 1846 : —

Of Chief-Justice Robinson's character I will only allow
myself briefly to say, that a combination of such strong re-
ligious and moral principles, modesty of mind, and such in-
stinctive talent for speaking and writing, I have never before
been acquainted with ; that every Lieutenant-Governor of Upper
Canada has, for the last twenty-five years, expressed an opinion
of this nature ; and that, by general acclamation, it would, I
firmly believe, be acknowledged by every man in our North
American Colonies whose opinion is of any value.

xii VISIT TO PETERBOROUGH

And, in a letter to my father, Sir George Arthur

says :—

... I believe few men placed in so elevated a position, in a
community so long agitated by political ti-oling. would have
sustained for so many years, amongst all classes, a character for
ability, industry, and purity of purpose, with a devotion to the
best interests of your native country, which, however much per-
sons may conscientiously differ from you on political points,
ought at least to warm the heart of every man towards you
who truly regards Canada as his home.

In October 1843 he paid a visit to the town of
Peterborough in Upper Canada, five years after the
death of his brother Peter who had founded it, and
who died, unmarried, in Toronto in 1838.

On this occasion he was welcomed by an address
of 150 of the inhabitants as "One whose interests in
the welfare of the place is of long duration, and as the
representative of him to whom our flourishing town
owes its foundation and its name."

He mentions having visited Peterborough also in
1827 together with Sir Peregrine Maitland, Bishop
Macdonell, Colonel Talbot (well known in connection
with the Talbot Settlement in Western Canada), his
brother Peter Robinson, and Colonel Hillier, when it
consisted of but a few log houses.

Mrs. E. S. Dunlop thus alludes to this visit : *-

The immigrants formed a line on each side of the road for
a quarter of a mile to receive the Governor and his party, who
were in five sleighs. At the time it was settled at a dinner
party (given by the governor) that the village should be called

1 " Our Forest Home/' being correspondence (privately published) of
the late Francis Stewart, by Mrs. E. S. Dunlop.

336 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Peterborough in honour of Colonel Peter Robinson.1 The
name was suggested by my mother.

Mrs. Dunlop's mother (Mrs. Stewart) was the
wife of Mr. Francis Stewart, who had emigrated from
Scotland and settled at Auburn in the parish of
Douro, near where Peterborough now stands, and her
husband, writing of Peter Robinson's Emigrants on
July 20, 1826, to the Rev. Mr. Crowley, says :—

I have always found them satisfied and happy. Some have
told me with tears in their eyes, that they never knew what
happiness was until now. I conceive that this is greatly owing
to the great care of Mr. Robinson in regard to their complaints
and studying their wants.

Colonel Talbot, who was of the party with my
father on the above visit to Peterborough, was on the
staff of Colonel Simcoe, then Governor of Upper
Canada, when he founded York, now Toronto, in the
last century. A brother of Lord Talbot of Malahide,
he and the future Duke of Wellington had at one
time been A.D.C.'s together on the staff of the
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Subsequently, when
quartered in Canada, Colonel Talbot determined to
form a settlement — well known since as the " Talbot
Settlement "-—in the western district, and built near
Port Talbot, on Lake Erie, a log-house, called
" Malahide Castle."

With ample means, but devoted to the wild life
of the bush, he lived for years after his first arrival
as an almost absolute ruler among his settlers, miles
from any other point of civilisation, and (it is said)
marrying and baptizing his own people, and doing

1 He was colonel in the Canadian Militia. As to the Irish emigrants
he brought out to Canada see chap. vi.

xii COLOXKI, TAIJ50T 337

with his own hands much of his farm and household
work. For many years he paid an annual visit to my
father in Toronto, and I perfectly recollect, as a !
seeing him at Beverley House.

Below I ijive some extracts from his letters to my
father, and may mention with regard to the first, that
the date of keeping the Talhot anniversary to which
it alludes, was subsequently altered by him to Friday,
the 20th May, " so that they can dance into the 21st,
the proper day."

It will be seen, from the year of the letter, that
this was the jubilee, or fiftieth year, of his arrival with
Governor Simcoe in Upper Canada.

Colonel Talbot died in 18,5:5, in his eighty-second
year, having shortly before this visited England for
the last time.

POUT TALimr, ~th J/nntnri/ 1842.

MY DEA1 f'niKK, — In my last letter I forgot to request
that, in your arrangement for the Spring Circuit, you would
not let the London Court interfere with the Talbot Anniver
which will be on Monday the 23rd May — as the right day, the
21st, will be on Saturday, and as I only once a year appear on
the stage, the fuller the house, the more gratifying. I had but
>ne letter by the last packet, the 1st Dec-cm i

The Queen Dowager better — she gave the messenger who
>rought the account of the birth of the Prince of Wales ^lOO.1
— Believe me, very simvivlv vours, THOMAS TALHOT.

PMIIT TALBOT, llth I :»4i».

MY Di AH Cim.i, — Your kind letter of the 6th instant was, 1
r.in assure you, a great treat. Little did I think, when I first
arrived in Upper Canada, with Governor Simcoe, in 1792, that
I should live to see the present time. I believe my friend
Allan2 and myself are the only two left.

1 The present Kinjr Kilwanl VII.

- William Allan, father of the late Him. (i. \\ . Allan, of Moss Park,
Toronto.

338 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

I have got into two rooms of my new house — the walls are
dry, but the chimneys smoke most aggravatingly, but I keep
doors and windows open. I enjoy good health, but feel the
cold more than I did in my younger days.

I should be delighted if you could muster nerve, and drive
to Port Talbot when the sleighing is good, as I am actually
lonesome.

By a letter received from the Aireys, I understand that
Mrs. Airey^s youngest brother was about to be married to a
Miss Le Froy. Is she a sister of your Le Froy^s ? 1

With my most affectionate regards to Mrs. Robinson, and
every individual of your family, — I remain, always sincerely
yours, THOMAS TALHOT.

To turn to my father's home life.

Between the years 1843 and 1848 five of his
children were married.

Augusta, on 31st October 1844, to Captain J. M.
Strachan.

Lukin, on 15th May 1845, to Elizabeth Arnold.

Emily, on 16th April 1846, to Captain J. H.
Lefroy, R.A.

Louisa, on the same date, to G. W. Allan, and
John Beverley, on 30th June 1847, to Mary Jane
Hagerman. (See Appendix B.)

An extract from a letter of my father's to Mr.
Berthon, of Toronto, a portrait painter well known
in Canada, which I give below, is connected with
the marriage of these three daughters. The picture
alluded to in it was a gift to my mother from her
three sons-in-law, on the day her daughters Emily
and Louisa were married, and she and my father
heard of it for the first time on their return from

1 A cousin — the grand-daughter of Chief Justice Lefroy. I give the
spelling Le Froy as in Colonel Talbot's letter.

xii HOMK LIFE 339

the marriage service at the Cathedral, on the 16th
April 1846.

I cannot delay in thanking you for the very great pit
which Mrs. Robinson and I have received from vour charming
picture, and we are extremely obliged to you for the /eal and
interest with which yon must have entered into the views of the
conspirators, in order to fulfil so happily what was so kindly
planned. Our dear little girls arc, as we think, faithfully and
characteristically portrayed.

My father was, from inclination, very hospitable,
and during the years dealt with in this chapter,
when Toronto was much smaller than it now is,
Beverley House was one of the centres of much that
went on in it. A garrison of some size, a large family
connection, and strangers often passing through with
letters of introduction, made social gatherings fre-
quent, and have left with me a recollection of meeting
many people who were then, or became afterwards,
well known in the world.

Few, I think, have enjoyed more uninterrupted
married happiness, through many years, than my
father did. Writing to my mother from Cobourg on
the 5th June 1847, he says : —

You do not forget, I am sure, more than I do, that we have
this day been married thirty years, the full term of a generation.
In all things how good God has been to us. Ours has been no
common lot.

This happiness was, I need scarcely say, mainly
due to the admirable character of my mother, who
combined judgment and decision with great unsel-
fishness, and no one could have acknowledged her
value to him, in every relation of life, more gratefully

340 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

than my father. Sir Henry Lefroy, writing of the
year 1846 in Toronto, says—

The brightness of Beverley House (at that period) cannot
be depicted. Mrs. Robinson, then about fifty-two, still retained
much of the great beauty of her youth. She had a most
charming manner.

Looking back, I have often felt that as children
we were exceptionally fortunate in our home.

Up to 1852 there had been no break in the family
circle. The first great sorrow of my father's married
life was the death in that year of his daughter Louisa
— Mrs. Allan — when travelling with her husband in
Italy. She was buried in the Protestant Cemetery,
Rome.

A few years afterwards (1859) his daughter Emily
— Mrs. Lefroy — died, in London. She was buried
in Crondall Churchyard, Hampshire, not far from
Itchel (now Ewshott) House — the family home of
the Lefroys.

In 1850, the statutes of the Bath having been
modified so as to admit of the Order being granted
for civil as well as military services, Lord Elgin,
Governor- General of Canada, was desired to inquire
if it would be acceptable to my father to be made a
companion of the Order — and he was shortly after-
wards gazetted a C.B.

In May 1851 he went for a short trip to Virginia,
meeting in Richmond his daughter Mrs. Allan, and
her husband, who were on their return from Cuba.

On this trip he visited Washington, Fredericks-
burgh, Richmond, Williamsburgh, and Yorktown.
Some of these places had a special interest for him.

xii VISIT TO VIRGINIA 341

At Williamsburgh he went over William and Mary
College, of which his ancestor Christopher Robinson
had been a trustee under the original charter of ir*!W,
and where his father had been educated.

At Yorktown he saw the scene of the siege, and
of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis's army, of which
his father's regiment formed a part, in 1781 — since
which time none of his descendants had been in
Virginia.

On a steamer upon the river Potomac between
Washington and Fredericksburgh he was introduced
to Mr. Conway Robinson (of the Vineyard near
Washington), a leading member of the bar, and chair-
man of the Executive Committee of the Virginia
Historical Society.

He also met Mr. Richard Randolph and several
other well-known Virginians, some of whom were
connected with branches of his father's family, and
from whom he received much kindness and hos-
pitality.

" I found myself at once," he says, "among
friends and connections.

Mr. Conway Robinson, descended himself, I
believe, from a Yorkshire family, and most probably
from a relation of Christopher Robinson of Hewick.
corresponded with him frequently afterwards, and
procured for him, and subsequently for me (in 1875)
when I visited him at the Vineyard, many interesting
particulars connected with our family.

CHAPTER XIII

UNIVERSITIES OF KING'S COLLEGE AND
TRINITY COLLEGE

Foundation of King's College and Trinity College and his association
with them — Created a Baronet — Letters from the Duke of
Newcastle and Lord Seaton — Congratulations of the Bar — Outbreak
of the Crimean War.

IN the establishment in Toronto of the University of
King's College, now the University of Toronto, and
subsequently in that of Trinity College, my father
took a great interest.

On this account, and because their histories are
connected, I will refer especially to the foundation of
these two Universities.

In 1789 the United Empire Loyalists who, driven
from the United States, had settled in Canada,
applied to the Government to afford them religious
and secular education for their children, which after-
wards General Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor
of Upper Canada, exerted himself to procure for
them.

His views were that, in addition to grammar
schools, a university was required, to inculcate
" sound religious principles, pure morals, and refined
manners." 1

In 1797 the Legislature of Upper Canada ad-
dressed the Crown, praying that lands might be
appropriated for the support of grammar schools

1 Letter to the Bishop of Quebec, 30th April 1795.

342

KIXC.'S COLLEGE :u:*

and of a university, *k for the instruction of youth in
the different branches of liberal knowledge."

It is to be observed here, and it is important, that
the Legislature itself, in this address, did not directly
desire that religious instruction should be included in
the University course; and to accuse it, therefore

been done, of a breach of faith in ultimately
excluding it, does not seem justified ; but at this
time religious instruction went hand in hand with
secular in all the great I Tni versities of the British
Dominions.

The King, in reply to the address, granted an
appropriation of lands for the support of grammar
schools, and also of higher seminaries (such as univer-
sities) for the " promotion of religious and moral
learning and the study of the arts and sciences/' . . .
and it was the prospect thus opening in connection
with both religious and secular education which
brought the future Bishop Strachan to the colony.

Grammar schools were before long in operation,
but it was some years before the circumstances of
the colony and an income from the interest on the sale
of lands, justified a University charter being granted.
This, chiefly through the exertions of Sir Peregrine
Maitland and Dr. Strachan, was secured in 1827.

It established '4 King's College " at York, in Upper
Canada, " for the education and instruction of youth
and students in arts and faculties," the recital stating
that such establishment " for the education of youth
in the principles of the Christian religion, and for
their instruction in the various branches of science
and literature which are taught in our Universities in
this kingdom (the United Kingdom) would greatly
conduce to the welfare of our said province."

344 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

But, although the charter was thus obtained in
1827, a delay of sixteen years occurred before the
University could be built and opened, owing chiefly
to the following causes. Sir Peregrine Maitland, an
active supporter of it, had been transferred to another
government ; the all-absorbing events of the Re-
bellion and the Union of the Canadas occurred, and
last, though not least, a feeling was growing up
that the National Church of England could not,
from many circumstances, be made the National
Church of Canada, that feeling which led subsequently
to the secularisation of the Clergy Reserves.

Controversy respecting the provisions of the
charter went on continually in Parliament and in
the press, these provisions being looked upon as
giving too much influence to the Anglican Church,
and the terms of the charter were, in consequence,
much modified,1 chiefly in the direction of reducing
ecclesiastical influence in the council of the college.
The Judges of the Queen's Bench were appointed
visitors instead of the Bishop of the diocese ; the
President was not necessarily to be an ecclesiastic ;
several of the higher officials of the Government
were to have seats on the Council in order to give
lay influence ; and the one connection now left with
the Church of England was that there was a Pro-
fessor of Divinity of that Church, and that chapel
services in accordance with the prayer-book of the
Church were conducted for those students who
belonged to it, others not being required to attend.

It was under this modified charter that King's
College opened in 1843, amply endowed with the
proceeds of 225,944 acres of valuable land.

1 By 7 William IV. c. 16. Rev. Stat. U.C., p. 811.

xin KIXC.S (OLLKC.K

My father never approved of the modifications
which had been made in the charter.

Speaking at the time (184:5) of the opening of the
college, he says : —

I feel a satisfaction — melancholy indeed it is, because m\
humble efforts were unavailing, but a satisfaction which I could
unwillingly have foregone — that I was led, by no motive, ever
to concur in those alterations which deprived this University of
a distinctly religious character.

It is very true that we are not in England, Ireland, or

Scotland, and it mav be imagined that a less sound feeling, in

• f such momentous importance, is characteristic of this

country. If it be so, it is more to be deplored than any other

error.

But the members of the three largest Christian communities
in Upper Canada, unconnected with the Church of England,
_nven evidence of very different views. They have each
given the strongest proof that what they desire in their own
case is a college which shall be avowedlv in strict and un-
doubted communion with their own persuasion. If this had
not been the feeling, we should not have heard of Queen's
College — or the colleges of Victoria or Regiopolis. In tlii^
they have judged soundly of human nature, and yielded an
honest testimony to what their consciences approved.

I must explain the above remarks by saying that
the evident tendency to secularise totally education
in King's College had not appealed much more to
many members of the Church of Scotland, or of the
\Vesleyan or Roman Catholic Churches, in Upper
Canada, than to those of the Anglican.

They could not feel — as was but natural — per-
fectly satisfied with any religious teaching in the
college other than that of their own Church ; and
would have welcomed any Government measure
which diverted part of the college endowment +

346 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

education in connection with their own communion ;
but the severance of religious instruction from Uni-
versity teaching was not what they approved. The
members of the Church of Scotland established
" Queen's College " at Kingston in connection with
their own Church, the Wesleyans "Victoria College"
at Coburg, and the Roman Catholics " Regiopolis
College" at Kingston.

Though my father had been opposed to the
modifications made in the charter of King's College,
he rejoiced at the successful completion of the efforts
to open the University, of which, as Chief- Justice, he
now became a visitor. Religious instruction was
still to be given within its walls, and he hoped that
the charter would not be further interfered with.

He was now instrumental in obtaining for King's
College the Wellington Scholarships, afterwards re-
moved to Trinity College, and to which I shall allude
further on, and my brother Christopher 1 was sent to
the college, where he graduated, and become one of
its gold medallists.

At its formal opening my father expressed the
hope that with the establishment of the University
there would grow up in Canada " something of the
traditional spirit and elevation of character which,
insensibly working in her noble Universities, have
made England what she is."

But the charter was to be yet further, and very
radically altered.

Under the conditions of party and religious feeling
in Upper Canada, it was deemed impossible by the

1 Christopher Robinson, K.C., Beverley House, Toronto.

xni KING'S COLLEGE :ur

Legislature to continue to maintain, from public funds,
a University in connection with the Anglican Church,
or any form of religious teaching.

In 1849, by an Act (12 Viet. c. 8'J), which was
not interfered with by the Crown, and in order, as
the Act purported, that <k the just rights and privi-
leges of all may be maintained without offence to
the religious opinions of any," it was provided that
henceforth education in King's College was to be
exclusively secular. The name of " King's College "
was also altered to that of "The rniversity of
Toronto."

No ** minister, ecclesiastic, or teacher, under and
according to any form or profession of religious faith
or worship whatsoever " was to have a scat in the
" Senate/' as the governing body was to be termed :
no religious observances were to be imposed in the
College, and no Professorship of Divinity allowed.

When all religious teaching was thus excluded
from the University of King's College, some thought
that it would sufficiently meet the views of those
opposed to this measure if they were enabled — by
public grants in aid — to educate their youth in
theology outside its walls.

My father, writing as to this view, says :—

Some would seem to think that they would content the
Church of England, and all others, by furnishing them with
the means of educating their youth in theology, apart from
King's College. That is doing nothing.

There is no serious difficulty now in the Church of England
or Scotland, or the Roman Catholic Church, finding means to
do this without public aid. A salary of ^200 per annum, with
fees to be paid by students, would secure the services of some

348 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

respectable clergyman, if no more could be got — but we could
get more.

Lord Elgin also, in a letter to the Secretary of
State for the Colonies, on the 4th February 1851,
says that those who advocated the change in the
charter of King's College in 1849 believed that the
several denominations " would provide schools or
colleges in the vicinity of the University for the
religious training of the youth of their respective
communions."

But my father, and those who concurred with
him, desired more than this for the University
education of the youth of Canada.

What the Act secularising University education
had done was to destroy in a fundamental point the
resemblance between the Toronto University and
those great English residential Universities of Oxford
and Cambridge, to the system and training at which
he attributed, rightly or wrongly, much of that
" traditionary spirit and elevation of character which
have made England what she is."

Under this system, students, as a rule, reside in
their colleges, the advantage of which is generally
admitted by University men in after life, and religious
and moral teaching and influence go hand in hand
with secular work. They are interfused with the
latter, give tone to it and to the daily college life, and
are not matters outside of it. They are imparted by
teachers who are themselves convinced of the value of
such influence, and who instruct in secular subjects
as well ; and these teachers, by mixing with the
students in their college amusements, interests, and
occupations, have a greater weight in the formation

xin TRINITY COLLKC.K 349

of the characters of those under them than others,
not similarly situated, can hope to h;

My father and many more considered this system
the most perfect University one; and so, although
they could not hope to obtain a better secular educa-
tion than that given at the University of Toronto, or
one imparted by more able Professors (many of them
Churchmen) than those who formed its staff*, they
determined to found, if possible, a new University
upon another basis in connection with the Anglican
Church.

Bishop Strachan, though seventy-two years of age,
proceeded to England, where an influential com-
mittee among the members of which, it may be
mentioned, were Lord Seaton and Mr. (Gladstone —
co-operated with him in his object. An appeal for
funds was warmly responded to both there and in
Canada; and it illustrates this to say that, though
there were in Upper Canada at this time but few
wealthy men, very many contributed over £100 ;
several £500 (in money or land) ; some £1000 (among
them Bishop Strachan himself) ; Mr. Enoch Turner,
£1700 ; and Dr. Burnside, £6000. In England the
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel gave
£4000 ; the Society for Promoting Christian Know-
ledge, £3000; the University of Oxford, £500; Mr.
Turner, of Rook's Nest, Surrey, £500, and there were
other liberal contributions. In all, over £40,000,
afterwards added to, was soon collected, and a petition
to the Queen for a royal charter was signed by
nearly 12,000 people, chiefly heads of families.

The building of the college was then proceeded
with, and it was formally opened 15th January 1852,
having, pending the receipt of the royal charter

350 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

applied for, received its Act of Incorporation as
a college, without degree-conferring powers, from
the Legislature of Canada.

The charter was granted 16th July 1853 by her
Majesty's command, ordaining and providing that
" the said college shall be deemed and taken to be a
University, and shall have and enjoy all such and the
like privileges as are enjoyed by our Universities of
our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland."
My father was elected the first chancellor, continu-
ing to hold the office until his death, and taking
always the keenest interest in the welfare of the
University.1

Thus Trinity College was founded from the
contributions of individuals and public bodies inde-
pendently of the State, and in connection with the
Anglican Church, modelled in all respects, including
collegiate residence, upon the English Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge, and with a Provost and Pro-
fessors from these Universities.

At the opening of the college, on 15th July 1852,
my father said :—

Ours is no new faith. It is not from the Reformation that
the Church of England dates her existence. We are not
separated from other Christian communities in consequence of
any recent adoption on our part of a doubtful interpretation
of some text of Scripture, or any modern scruple in regard to
forms. Nothing else we most fondly venerate — not the glorious
flag of England, nor the great Charter of our liberties — has
from its antiquity so strong a claim to our devotion as our
Church. It is the Church which, from age to age, the Sovereign
has sworn to support : centuries have passed since holy martyrs
have perished at the stake rather than deny her doctrines. . . .

1 I was^ent to the college by him at its opening, and graduated there
in 1855.

xiii TRINITY COLLKCiK

And the Rev. Provost \Vliitaker on the same
occasion thus spoke :—

The foundation of this college is a solemn protest against
the- separation of religion from education. We have joined
together what others have put asunder, . . . and what, «i* we
believe, God joined together from the beginning.

Much has been written, in not too dispassionate
a spirit, with respect to King's College and Trinity
College, and the religious questions connected with
their history, but it should not be overlooked that the
majority of those who, like my lather, contributed to
establish Trinity College upon the system which I
have explained, were laymen, professional men, and
business men; few of them comparatively were
ecclesiastics or theologians. Certainly those of them
who had sent their sons to King's College under its
very modified charter in 1843 cannot fairly be accused
of extreme Church views.

Hut they were convinced, from the highest con-
siderations and also from the experience of practical
life, that the separation of religious and moral teach-
ing from University education was a wrong step ; and
that if the State was compelled of necessity to sever
them, then they, as individuals, must exert themselves
by private effort to reunite them. They were of
opinion that a University should before all things, as
General Simcoe said, " impart religious and moral
learning ; " that all secular instruction of youth should
have its basis on such learning ; and, as Dr. Arnold
of Rugby wrote, be made " subordinate to a clearly
defined Christian end." Holding these views, had
they not exerted themselves as they did, when
religious worship and instruction were excluded from

352 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

King's College, to found another University, they
would have acted less fully up to their convictions
than had those earnest men of other Christian com-
munions who had founded " Queen's " and " Victoria "
and " Regiopolis " Colleges.

From the day on which it was opened until now,
i.e. for more than half a century,1 Trinity College,
under some opposition and many difficulties, has con-
tinued to fulfil its mission.

It is the last college in Canada founded upon a
royal charter, and it is to be confidently hoped that,
as time goes on, it will grow, as Oxford and Cam-
bridge have done in England, in the confidence and
affection both of Churchmen and of the people at
large, and with the power afforded by more material,
as well as moral support, be enabled much further to
extend its sphere of usefulness.

As the history of the Wellington Scholarships
now enjoyed by Trinity, but originally by King's
College, has a close connection with my father, I give
extracts below from letters of the Duke of Welling-
ton regarding them.

On the 29th April 1844 the Duke wrote to
him : —

You will probably have heard that I some years ago subscribed
a sum of money towards the payment of the expense of the con-
struction of the Wei land Canal, and that I am in fact the
proprietor of shares in that work. I was subsequently disposed
to form the intention of relinquishing those shares, and I

1 To the zealous exertions and unfailing support of the late Hon. G.
W. Allan, D.C. L,, who was connected with it, as a trustee, from its com-
mencement, and was its chancellor for twenty-three years, Trinity College
owes very much indeed. After his death he was succeeded as chancellor
by my brother, Christopher Robinson, in January 1902.

xin WELLINGTON SCHOLARSHIPS 358

intended to present them to the Province of Upper Canada,
and imagined that I had done so.

But the enclosed letter l has apprised me that I had never
carried into execution that intention, and the shares are mine
at this moment.

Under those circumstances I venture to trouble you, and
request you to point out to me in what manner I can dispose
of these shares so as to be most serviceable to the Province of
Canada, or any district thereof, it being my wish to consult you
exclusively upon this subject, and intention to follow exactly
the course which you will su^

After I shall have received your answer to this letter, and
with the of your advice shall have determined upon

the course which I shall follow with regard to the disposition
of the property, I will, of course, write to Mr. Merritt. . . .

In reply to this letter, my father suggested more
than one object for the Duke's consideration, but
inclined to the view that, as the stock would found
one and probably two scholarships, it would be well
to devote it to the cause of education in this way, by
founding such scholarships in King's College, which
had just been opened ; and he added that it would be
always felt to be a proud distinction of the Canadian
University that the Duke " had consented to asso-
ciate so closely with it a name which must last as
long as anything is taught in colleges or schools."

At the same time he gave the history of the
College, the modifications which had been made in
its original charter, and the possible danger of these
being carried further in the future.

1 This was a letter from Mr. William Hamilton Merritt, of St. Catherine's,
Upper Canada, the original projector and a very active promoter of the
Wt'llund Canal. The Duke of Wellington had, at a critical period of its
fortunes, given an impetus to the canal by taking twenty-five shares in it
(value then £500), and Mr. Merritt drew his attention to the fact of his being
still the holder of these shares, and made some suggestion with respect to
them. In the interim they had become considerably more valuable.

Z

354 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

In response the Duke wrote ; —

WALMEB CASTLE, 28th September 1844.

MY DEAR SIR, — I have to apologise for having allowed so
much time to elapse without answering your kind letter of llth
July, but Parliament was still sitting when I received it, and
my time was so fully occupied that I had not leisure to peruse
and consider the various papers which you were so kind as to
send me, and to determine upon the course which I should
follow.

I have now perused all the papers with the greatest atten-
tion, and I think that I quite understand the subject ; and I
have determined that I will avail myself of the Act of Parlia-
ment of the Province of Canada, the 7th Queen, chapter 34, and
authorise the disposal of my interest, or share, or shares, in the
Welland Canal, and with the produce thereof found a scholar-
ship in the King's College, in Upper Canada.

... I beg accordingly that having disposed of this stock
in the Welland Canal,1 you will dispose the proceeds thereof in
the foundation of a scholarship in the King's College, Upper
Canada.

I should wish this scholarship to be for your life at your
disposition. Afterwards at the disposition of the Chief Justice
of Upper Canada, of the Chancellor of King's College, and of
the President of the same institution, or the majority of the
three, each of them being a professor of the doctrine of the
Church of England.

I desire that you, during your life, and the officers above
mentioned, when they will have the disposal of and nomination
to the scholarship, will select him whom they may think most
deserving.

But, in case the son of an officer on half- pay of Her
Majesty's Army, settled in Canada, should become a candidate
for this benefit, and his claim, from merit and proficiency
in his studies, should be considered equal to that of other
candidates, I wish that the preference should be given to

1 A power of attorney to my father for this purpose was enclosed.

xin WELLINGTON SCHOLARSHIPS

the son of the officer on half-pay of I In- Majesty's Army
settled in Canada. . . .

I have desired to found this scholarship in the Kind's
College, Upper Canada, in consequence of inv conviction of the
connection of that institution with the Church of England, and
of its having a Royal Charter^under the Great Seal of England ;
but if the character in this respect of this institution should be
altered, bv the- exercise of any power or authority, and the
friends and professors of the doctrines of the Church of
England in Canada should form another institution for the
promotion of learning, religion, and virtue in connection with
the doctrine of the Church of England, I desire that the
scholarship or scholarships thus formed bv the sale of the stock
belonging to me in the We Hand Canal in the King's College
may be removed to Mich other institution. . . .

I have the honour to be, my dear Sir, your most faithful
and obedient humble Servant, \Yi

Mr. ( 'biff-Justice JOHN HKVKHI.KY UOUIN

Power was given to those who had the disposition
of the scholarship to create a second one, if the funds
permitted. The proceeds of the stock, with accu-
mulated back interest, enabled debentures of the
value of over £1100 sterling to be bought, from the
interest of which sum two scholarships were endowed.

In accordance with the Duke's instructions, when
all connection of the University of Toronto with
religious teaching and the Church of England had
ceased, and Trinity College been established, these
scholarships were removed to the latter College,
where they are now held.1

To understand the existing relations between the
University of Toronto, which is the State University

1 My father's grandson, ('. S. Machines, won by examination the
Wellington Scholarship in Classics for 1891, the method of award having
been changed to open competition, and became Fellow and Lecturer in
Trinity College in 1893-94. Another grandson, Christopher C. Robinson,
son of my brother Christopher, won it in the year 1901.

356 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of the Province of Ontario (formerly Upper Canada)
and Trinity and other Colleges of the Province, it is
necessary to refer shortly to what has taken place
since 1852.

In the interval between that date and the present
time the University of Toronto (once King's College)
has undergone several changes.

In 1853 it was reconstituted much upon the
system of the " University of London," on which it
was mainly modelled, and it was laid down that the
literary and scientific attainments of persons obtaining
degrees were to be similar to those in force at that
University.

As there are points of similarity, in other respects
as well as in their constitution, between these two
Universities, I will mention that the University of
London was initiated in 1825 by Campbell the poet,
(whose name has occurred more than once in these
pages), Lord Brougham, Joseph Hume, and certain
influential men who dissented from the doctrines of
the Established Church, and were under some dis-
abilities at other Universities at that time.1

In 1828, when it opened, it was distinctly non-
theological in character, but in 1829 a section of its
supporters, dissatisfied at its being altogether dis-
sociated from the Established Church, founded
" King's College," London, with a view to add to the
secular instruction the inculcation of " the doctrines
and duties of Christianity as the same are inculcated
by the United Churches of England and Ireland."

This combination was so far successful that in
1836 the University of London was reconstituted into

1 " Encyclopaedia Britannica " (Universities).

xin UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO 357

two parts, viz., the " University of London." to
examine and confer degrees only, and "University
College, London," a collegiate teaching institution —
the latter and " King's College, London," being both
incorporated with the University.

The University of Toronto was in 18,5:5 similarly
re-constituted into two parts, viz., "the University of
Toronto," an examining and degree-conferring body
only, and " University College," a collegiate teaching
institution.

There are no resident students in the College.

Since then various changes have taken place in
the statutes affecting the University, of which some
have been introduced with a view to facilitate the
federation or affiliation with it of other universities
and colleges ; and now the existing law is embodied
in -The University Act," 1901 (ch. 41, 1 Edward
VI I.), which provides that—

Any Univer>ity in the Province- of Ontario which suspends
its power to confer such degrees ;is it ni;iy be authorised to
confer (excepting decrees in theology) shall be entitled to be
represented on the Senate of the University,1 — and to be known
as a " Federated University " (s. 20 (1) ).

The curriculum in Arts of the University shall include the
subjects of Biblical Greek, Biblical literature, Christian ethics,
apologetics, the evidences of natural and revealed religion
and Church history — but any provision for examination and
instruction in the same shall be left to the voluntary action
of the federating Universities and colleges, and provision shall
be made, by a system of options, to prevent such subjects being
made compulsory upon any candidate for a degree (s. 24 ('3) ).

In proportion to the number of student;- in each Co'

358 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

The Council (of University College) may make regulations
touching the moral conduct of the students and their attend-
ance at public worship in their respective churches, or other
places of religious worship, and respecting their religious
instruction by their respective ministers according to their
respective forms of religious faith, and every facility shall be
afforded for such purposes — provided always that attendance
on such form of religious observance be not compulsory on
any student attending the University, or University College
(s. 23(1)).

The University Act, 1901, has in a degree altered
the relations between the University of Toronto and
University College. The college was incorporated
with the University ; now it is on a somewhat similar
footing with respect to the latter as other federating
colleges, though supported by the same endowment
and partially under the same management.

The provisions of the Act, as shown above, permit
of religious instruction and moral training being
voluntarily carried out, and allow certain religious
teaching to find a place in the Arts course for a
degree, while, at the same time, the terms of the
charter of the University of Toronto, under which
there can be no Faculty of Divinity in that Univer-
sity, and no religious observances or worship can be
compulsorily imposed, are adhered to.

Of the chartered, or incorporated, Universities and
colleges in Ontario, Victoria (Methodist) has within
recent years federated with the University of Toronto ;
while of colleges and institutions not enjoying Uni-
versity powers, several have affiliated with that
University, and some with Trinity University.

Up to the year 1903, however, it had not been
found practicable to come to any arrangement under

xni UNIVERSITY FEDERATION 359

which Trinity University, without the concession of
fundamental principles, could federate with the Uni-
versity of Toronto ; but, within the past few months.
after prolonged negotiations, conditions of federation
have been formulated which the corporation of Trinity,
and many of those deeply interested in her welfare.
both clergy and laity, have considered that it is both
proper and desirable to accept, the arrangement to be
a tentative one for three years. After this Trinity
could, if desired, revert at any time to her indepen-
dent position, her degree-conferring powers (except in
Divinity) being held in suspense during federation.

These conditions I will not here enlarge upon,
as they have been lately much discussed in Canada,
where those interested in University matters arc
familiar with them, and to completely enter into
them requires a reference to many details.

To sum up — the sketch which I have given of the
origin and progress of the Universities of Toronto
and Trinity College shows that the organisation and
regulations of the former are not now what they
were when Bishop Strachan established the latter in
1852. The educational circumstances of Toronto, the
capital of the Upper Province, have also altered.

At that time all religious worship and instruction
had been abolished in the University of Toronto, and
it was deemed necessary to found one upon a different
basis. Now Trinity College, with her religious wor-
ship and teaching, and her residential system, exists.
in which what was then abolished is imparted in
accordance with the tenets of the Anglican Church,
and this would continue to be the case under
federation.

Important changes also have been introduced into

360 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

the University of Toronto ; the relations to it of Uni-
versity College and other colleges under federation
have been modified : and the curriculum of Arts in
the University of Toronto includes religious teaching
within certain limits.

Federation, therefore, can now at all events be
regarded by Anglican churchmen, although it in-
volves a sacrifice of degree-conferring power on the
part of Trinity College, in a light which it could not
have been a few years ago, and the members of
Trinity who have advocated it have, equally with
those who are opposed to it, but one object in view,
viz., the success of the University in carrying out
and promoting the main purposes for which it was
established.

I have entered above at what may perhaps be con-
sidered undue length into questions concerning Trinity
College, on account of my father's close connection
with the University, and because I am aware that he
had its welfare much at heart.

For whatever he may have been able to accom-
plish for it in its earlier years, the reward he would
have sought is its prosperity, while maintaining the
principles upon which it was founded ; and that those
educated there may continue, for all time, to say : —

" And till life's latest hour my lips shall bless
The first good Bishop's work, and not the less
His name who — pupil, counsellor, and friend —
Aided in guiding to its prosp'rous end
This labour : faithful still through toil and loss
Fair learning's vine to twine upon the Cross." l

1 Congratulatory poem read by Mr. C. E. Thomson at my father's
installation as Chancellor of Trinity College, 3rd June 1853.

XTII CREATED A BARONET 36)

In 1854 my father was created a Baronet of the
United Kingdom, his patent being dated 21st Sep-
tember.

Shortly before, though he was entirely unaware
of it, some of those well acquainted with his public
services, who were then in England, had taken an
opportunity of speaking of them to the Duke of
Newcastle, Secretary of State for the Colonies.

Lord Seaton, to whom this had been mentioned,
then communicated with my father, and wrote him-
self to the Duke, stating what had come within his
own knowledge when Governor-General and in com-
mand of the forces, and adding :—

The duties of his high and important offices have be
efficiently diacharged that no public servant has ever been more
revered, or held in greater estimation than he at present is in
da.

He subsequently sent to my brother-in-law,
Captain Lefroy, a copy of his letter and of the fol-
lowing reply to it from the Duke of Newcastle : —

D<»U ' : lfk JtlUf !

l)i AK LOUD SEATON, — I regret that, from the pressure of
business and the numerous preparations attendant upon the
division of ollices which has lately taken place, I have not been
able hitherto to reply to your letter of the 27th May resper
Chief-Justice Robinson.

Long, however, before the receipt of that letter, I was fully
aware of the course of public services and many other great
merits of the Chief Justice, and also of the general estimation
in which he was, and is, held in Canada, and it was my inten-
tion, before leaving office, to leave some mark of public recog-
nition which would bear an honourable testimony, both to the
province and to himself, of his past valuable services.

I sincerely rejoice, however, that I have received your letter,

362 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

as bearing out to the full extent my own views, and I take the
earliest opportunity of informing you that I have already
received the Queen's most gracious approval of the recommen-
dation that a Baronetcy of the United Kingdom should be
conferred upon Chief Justice Robinson. — Believe me, dear
Lord Seaton, yours very faithfully,

NEWCASTLE.

Lord Seaton wrote also to my father, 19th June
1854 :—

It will be satisfactory to you to know that the Colonial
Minister had determined, before he left that Department, to
recommend some mark of distinction to be conferred on you.

I congratulate you sincerely on this recognition of your
public services, and I am confident that it will afford the highest
satisfaction at home and in Canada — west and east.

You will have heard of the sudden death of our old friend,
Sir Peregrine Maitland, with great sorrow.

Lord Elgin, Governor- General of Canada, in
notifying the Queen's intention to create him a
Baronet, added a kind private note expressing the
pleasure which this gave to him personally.

There were also many warm letters of congratula-
tion from public bodies and private friends, and the
Bar of Upper Canada, in an address conveying to him
their satisfaction, said :—

All will bear testimony to the manly and becoming dignity,
the patient attention, and the considerate and gratifying
courtesy which have invariably characterised your Presidency
on the Bench and your intercourse with the Bar. . . .

We cannot be forgetful of the important part your Lordship
has borne in maintaining, by influence and example, the high
tone and dignity of the one, and in respecting on all occasions
the position and privileges of the other.

xni CHI MEAN WAR 363

In 1854 the war with Russia (Crimean \Var)
broke out, in which many from Canada took an
active part;1 and Sir Francis Head, writing to my
father on 28th May 1854, thus refers to the death in
action of Captain A\r. Arnold,2 whose sister was the
wife of my brother Lnkin, and who, while on leave in
Canada, had volunteered for service and joined the
Turkish Army on the Danube :—

You will, I know, regret to learn that I have this morning
received from Colonel Steele, Lonl Raglan's Military Secretary,
a private note informing me of the death in action of our noble,
gallant, young friend, William Arnold. On account of his
gentlemanlike bearing and high chivalrous spirit, Lady I
anil I really and sincerely entertained for him maternal and
paternal regard.

Captain Arnold joined a Division of the Turkish
Army at Giurgevo on the Danube on the evening
previous to an attack made upon the Russian

it ion at Rustchuk on the opposite bank, in which
he and two other British officers (out of four in all)
and 700 men fell.

I may add here that it was largely in appreciation
of the contributions from Canada to the Patriotic
Fund raised after this war that I subsequently (in
November 1857) received my own commission from
the Prince Consort in the Rifle Brigade, of which he
was Colonel-in-Chief.

1 Ainoni; others who distinguished themselves may he mentioned
Lieutenant (afterwards Colonel) Alexander Dunn, awarded the V.C. for
bravery in the Litrht Cavalry i-harjre at Balaclava.

2 Son of John Arnold, Esq., of Toronto, brother of Colonel Arnold,
10th Lancers, who commanded the Cavalry Brigade in the Afghan War.
1839-40.

CHAPTER XIV

JOURNAL AND CORRESPONDENCE WHILE IN
ENGLAND, ETC.

1855

Mrs. Hamilton Hamilton, Sir F. Head — Appointed Vice-President, S.P.G.
— Bishop of New Zealand (Selwyn) — Rev. Ernest Hawkins, Judge
Haliburton, Colonel Sabine— Royal Society Club — House of Lords —
York Assizes — Samuel Warren, Parke, Cresswell, Canon Vernon
Harcourt — Nisi Prius Court — Bishop of Exeter, Hallam, Lord
Lyndhurst — Death of Sir R. Inglis — Westminster Hall — The
Exchequer Court — Oral judgments — House of Lords, Arguments
on a Scotch appeal — King's College, London — Sir E. Ryan, and
appeal cases from Canada — Levee, St. James's Palace— Sir H.
Holland, G. W. Bramwell, Q.C.— Queen's Birthday dinner— The
Great Eastern — Dr. Cumming, Sir H. Rawlinson, Captain M'Clure,
Faraday — Visits Bath, Freuchay, and Cleasby — Dublin : Lord
Carlisle, Lord Seaton, Chief-Justice Lefroy — Killarney — Cork —
Oxford : made Honorary D.C.L. — Sir J. Burgoyne — Murchison,
Willes — Pemberton Leigh and Canadian judgments — Lord Campbell
and Baron Parke as to taking evidence of parties to a suit— Guernsey
— Return to Canada.

IN 1855 my father and mother paid their last visit
to England, where my sisters, Emily (Mrs. Lefroy)
and Mary (afterwards Mrs. Maclnnes), were at this
time.

They left Toronto on the 13th January, sailing
from Boston on the 17th in the Cunard steamer
Asia, Captain Lott, and were away from Canada a
little over seven months. After touching at Halifax,
they reached Liverpool on the 30th January, and
went thence to Brighton, where my sisters were then
staying, and took rooms at 10 New Steyne.

During this visit, which was unconnected with
any public duty, my father made short trips to Ireland

364

LAST VISIT TO ENGLAND 365

and Guernsey ; to Oxford, where he was given the
honorary degree of D.C.L. ; to Frenchay, near Bristol,
where Colonel W. H. Robinson1 was then living, and
to Cleasby in Yorkshire. He saw again several of
those whom he had met when last in England in
1838-40, including Sir F. Head, Lord Lyndhurst,
Sir Robert Inglis, and Sir J. Pakington ; but Sir
Robert Peel, Sir Wilmot Horton, and the Duke of
Wellington had in the interim passed away.

I give now some extracts from his journal : —

I found all well at Brighton.'2 We went to see Mrs. Hamil-
ton Hamilton, daughter of Sir Frederick Robinson. I think
I had not seen her since 1815 at Kingston, where her father
commanded the forces, and was administering the civil govern-
ment.

She was then a most lovely young woman, and is still a fine
one — animated, intelligent, and agreeable — devoting herself
wholly to the care of her husband, who has been for many
an invalid. lie was British Minister at Rio de Janeiro.

I received verv kind letters from Sir Robert Inglis. Mr.
Turner,3 and Sir Francis Head, proposing that I should visit
them. Sir 11. Inglis gave me choice of days when I would dine
with him, and begged of me to name any persons whom I should
like to meet.

On February 4 and 5, 1855, Sir Francis Head,
who, since my father's last visit to England, had
moved from Warwickshire to Oxenden in North-
amptonshire, writes : —

I was indeed glad this morning to see your handwriting,
coupled w:th the postmark " Woolwich."" My first feeling wa>

' Son of 8ir William and grandson of Colonel Beverley Robinson.

2 This entry is without date.

3 Of Rook's Nest, Godstone, Surrey.

366 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

one of thankfulness that you and Lady Robinson had got safe
across, my second of joy that you and I were once again on the
soil of good old England. Whether you arrive here by night
or by day, " in thunder, lightning, or in hail," you will meet
with a hearty welcome.

I have been in what I call " Jail " for the last six weeks, in
consequence of my horse having reared up and fallen back-
wards on my knee and ankle, but I hope to be able to resume
my " circuit," i.e. my hunting, as soon as the frost leaves us.

Since you were here Canada has grown into a great country,
but Oxenden has not only not grown, it has shrivelled up, in
consequence of the railway having drawn off the high road every
single mail and store cart. Twenty years ago more than 100
per day passed — now not one. . . . Remember that by select-
ing Saturday as your day for coming here, you will enable me
to introduce you to the quiet service and interior of our little
village church, which I think you will be pleased with. I feel
quite happy at the idea of your being in England.

In the old country, where your face and blue cloak are not
known, I hope you will feel that for the few months you are to
be among us, you are fairly entitled to enjoy your holiday ; let
your moustachios l grow, and do as you like !

Sir John Pakington also writes : —

I have heard with great satisfaction of your visit to
England, and I look forward with great pleasure to seeing
you again.

Journal continued.

3rd February (Saturday). — I went by railway to Chelten-
ham to see Mr. Merry, now in his ninety-fourth year.2

Some days after I went to town and dined with Sir
Robert and Lady Inglis. I met there the Bishop of Lichfield

1 Moustachios were now just coming into general wear in England.
Before the Crimean War they were worn, as a rule, by heavy cavalry
alone. Sir Francis probably knew that my father, like many others of
his date, had no great liking for them.

2 He died on the 23rd November following.

xiv SIR F. HEAD—MEETING OF S.P.G. 367

(Lonsdale), Lord Hatherton, Mr. Arthur Mills, Mr. Dudley
IVrcival, son of Spencer IVrcival,1 and si-vi-ral oth

I received a letter from tin- Socirtv for the Propagation of
the Gospel in Foreign Parts informing nu- that I had lately
1>< •« n elected a vice-president, and by special request attended :i
meeting of a select committee appointed to report on the late
Clergy Reserves Act passed in Canada, and a letter from the
Hishop of Toronto of 6th January thereupon. I found the
discus-ion very pleasantlv and courteously conducted, and I
believe I was of use. On this occasion the Bishop of Liehfield,
Lord Hohert Cecil, Mr. Hawkins, and the Bishop of New
Zealand- were present. The Bishop of London came in for a
short time.

I saw much to admire in the Bishop of N'ew Xi-aland, who
was to sail in about ten days for his diocese, in a small \
of his own, which he navigates as captain. He has a good
athletic frame, broad square shoulders, not encumbered with
flesh, a fine forehead, good face, kind expression of counte-
nance, yet shrewd and determined, and speaks most fluently
and to the purpose — full of good humour, and with great life
and spirit, seeming at home in everything.

I had before attended the February monthly meeting of
the Society, at which from thirty to forty were present. The
Bishop of Jamaica 3 spoke of my nomination to be vice-president
in very complimentary terms.

I dined with Krnest Hawkins, 4 Dean Street, Park Lane,
the Bishop of Lichfield, "Sam Slick" (Judge Haliburton),
Charles Lefroy, Mr. Hickards and wife, Mr. Walker, Henry
and Emily, and some others, a pleasant party.

Mr. Haliburton was in great spirits — has a book just coming
out — I had much talk with him.4

1 Prime Minister assassinated by Jiellingham in the House of Com-
mons, lolL>.

-' The well-known Bishop Selwyii.
Aubrey George Spencer.

4 Of tin's party "Henry" is Captain (afterwards Sir Henry) J. H.
Lefroy, Charles Lefroy, his brother, the Rev. Krnest Hawkins, and
Mr. (afterwards Sir (icor-tO Kirkards, his brother-in-law. The Hev.
Krnest Hawkins was Canon of Westminster and secretary to the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel. Judge Haliburton's book was no
doubt "Nature and Human Nature," published 1855.

368 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Judge Haliburton was an old acquaintance of my
father, and in connection with his name I give the
following note from him, written a few years before
this date : —

WINDSOR. NOVA SCOTIA, 14Jh September 1847.

MY DEAR CHIEF-JUSTICE, — I received your note with very
great pleasure.

It would afford me infinite gratification to have an oppor-
tunity of renewing my acquaintance with you, either here, in
Canada, or in dear old England. There are many subjects
which I should delight in talking over with you, in most of
which I believe we fully agree.

These are, however, all too prolix for the limits of a note,
which only enables me to assure you of my very great respect
and regard. — I am, my dear Sir, yours always,

TH. HALIBURTOX.

Journal continued.

Dined and breakfasted with Sir Robert Inglis. We had
agreeable parties. Henry and Emily, Colonel Sabine, the
Bishop of Jamaica, Mr. Mills, Mrs. Erskine and daughter, and
various others. Sabine * I had not seen since he was in Canada
in 1814-15 as lieutenant of artillery.

I was taken by Sir Robert Inglis to dine with the Royal
Society Club at the Freemasons1 Tavern at six o'clock. Sir
Robert presided. There were Sir Benjamin Brodie,2 Professor
Wheatstone,3 a man of remarkable talent, unassuming and
amiable, with a great turn for mechanical science.

Sir Benjamin Brodie looks well and active, but is thin and
stoops. He sat next me. I had seen a good deal of him when
I was last in England.

1 Sir E. Sabine, R.A., served in the war in Canada in 1813-14. He
established magnetic observatories in Toronto and the colonies generally
in 1840. President of the Royal Society 1861, and died in 1883 in his
95th year.

2 Sir Benjamin Brodie, the celebrated surgeon, President of the Royal
Society, 1858-62.

3 Professor Wheatstone was the first to render the telegraph available
for the public transmission of messages.

xiv ROYAL SOCIETY rLTH 369

Sir Robert Inglis proposed the health of tli s, and

was pleased to express himself in terms quite tot) laudatr
iin . st.!itin«j what Sir Robert Peel had told him of the impres-
sions he had derived from his conversations with me. I had to

something in reply, only two or three1 sentem

Th'- secretary read (as all papers are read here by the
secretary) a long paper by a Mr. Gosse, I believe the naturalist,
who lived for some years in the townships of Lower Canada,
on some subject of entomology-1 After it was read Mr.
Huxley - spoke on its general features, partly agreeing, partly
questioning,

Whoever set our Canadian Institute going — I believe
Lefroy ---copied very exactly the routine of proceedings at
sik-h meetings in England.

In the Royal Society's room I saw on the table an old
thick volume, in which evcrv Fellow of the Society has signed
his name, among others Charles II., Newton, John Kvelvn, and
celebrities without end.

I attended a debate in the House of Commons, when Lord
Palmerston gave his explanation of his taking office as Premier,
after Lord J. RusselPs retirement. It was an interesting
debate. I heard besides Sir J. Graham, Disraeli, Roebuck.
Layard. Duncombe, and many others. Lord Palmerston
shows best in replying to an attack. Disraeli said some
caustic clever things, but was too laboured — not easy and
natural.

My father constantly attended the Law Courts in
England, when opportunity offered, being interested
in comparing their procedure with that of the
Canadian Courts.

I got, he writes, from Julius Airey 4 a printed circuit paper,

1 Philip H. (lO-ise. author of the '"'Canadian Naturalist."

- Huxley, well-known naturalist, President Royal Society, died Hi!).r>.

3 Sir Henry b't'roy had much to do with the Canadian Institute at
Toronto, and was its president for three or four y

4 He and his brother, Sir Richard (afterwards Lord) Airey, were
nephews of Colonel Talbot (see chap, xii.), and had been in Canada for
some years.

2 A

370 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

as I wished to attend the assizes at some town where I should
probably see the business best conducted ; and I chose York, as
Parke and Cresswell were to preside there, and I should have
time to see the Minster well, and make acquaintance with Dr.
Morris living near. Julius gave me a note to Mrs. Cresswell, a
relative of his. They were then on the circuit at Newcastle.

Sir Francis Head writes to him a little later on : —

I was, and am, amused at your affection for our Courts of
Law. I should have thought that during your holiday they
would have been the very last places you would have visited.
" Mais on retourne toujours a son premier amour,11 and you
therefore leave Lady R. for your first love, " The Court."

As my father's references to well-known Judges
of this date may have an interest to legal men,
especially in Canada, I give several extracts from his
Journal alluding to them.

Journal continued (no date).

I saw Lord Campbell and Chief-Justice Jervis, and Pollock,
trying causes at the Guildhall. I liked Jervis's manner
best. I saw also Sir William Page Wood,1 and V. C. Stuart
sitting in Equity.

On Tuesday, 6th March, I left London at half-past nine
A.M., for York. Fitzgerald of Toronto was going to Edin-
burgh, and I proposed to him to go with me and stop a day
or two at York.

We went to the Minster for afternoon service at four
o'clock. I had a letter to Dr. Bower, D.C.L., a brother-in-
law of Dr. Morris. Dr. Morris 2 came over from Driffield to
meet me here, and next day we both dined at Dr. Bower's, and
met an agreeable party, among them Samuel Warren — author

1 Afterwards Lord Hatherley, Lord Chancellor.

2 Dr. Beverley Robinson Morris, descended from the Colonel Morris
who married Mary Philipse, the sister of Colonel Beverley Robinson's
wife (Susannah Philipse: see page 13), afterwards came out to Canada and
practised as a medical man for a time in Toronto.

xiv YORK ASSIZES 371

of "The Diary of a London Physician," and * ri 0.000 a
Year" — now Registrar of I lull, ami attending the Assi/es here
;i> a barrister. A pleasant man, looking young and in great
spirits. I saw the Criminal Court opened by Cresswell ] on
Wednesday, and on Thursday went and introduced niv^elf to
him. He made me sit bv him, and asked me to dine with him
and .Judge Parke on Friday, which I did. The Grand Jurv
were of the party, and many others. Baron Parke 2 was late
in getting away from the Ni.M Priiis Court, and kept us an
hour, but he made up for all when he came, so full of good-
humour and fun, the very picture of it. The foreman of the
Grand Jury is Lord Dundas.

Baron Parke took Fitzgerald ami me with him in his
carriage to U evening party at the " Residence House." Mr.
and Mrs. \V. Vernon llarcourt were our hosts. He is Canon
Residentiary, and one of the Prebends. :; We met here a large
party.

The High Sheriff (Mr. Brown of Kossington) called on me
and asked me to dine with him on Sunday. On Sunday I went
to the Cathedral. The Judges, Sheriff, Mayor, and Corpora-
tion went in state. The choir was crowded. It was a spec-
tacle well worth crossing the Atlantic to see. The Cathedral
appears to me perfect, especially this portion of it. We had a
pleasant party at the Sheriffs (twelve, I think).

Mr. and Mrs. llarcourt sent a kind invitation to dinner on
Tuesday, which I was obliged to decline.

I went next day into the Nisi Prius Court, where Baron
Parke presided.

I was amused with the Baron's good-humoured way of
getting through the business. He let counsel take their own
course, and very rarely interrupted them, and never seemed
impatient ; laughed at all the jokes, whether good or bad.
Once when a counsel strenuously persisted in endeavouring to

1 Sir Cresswell CresswelJ, Puisne J mi-re ( ourt of Common Pleas, after-
wards Judge of Court of Probate and Divorce ; died 1863.

2 Baron Parke was in 185G raised to the Peerage as Lord Wensleydale.

3 Canon of York 1H'24, was virtually the founder of the British Associa-
tion ; died 1871.

372 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

establish some point of law which the Baron thought absurd
and untenable, he said, " Surely you don't mean to contend —
so and so," and on the counsel earnestly stating that he did,
the Baron laughed outright in his face, as much as to say
" You're a funny fellow, to be sure," and merely said, " Oh,
nonsense, nonsense," and so put an end to the argument much
more conveniently than by treating it seriously, and bringing
on the kind of altercation that we often see in Court.

Cresswell is a most able Judge. I can conceive nothing of
the kind better than his summing up of a criminal case. He
keeps the whole thread of the narrative and the ins and outs
of the evidence wonderfully clear in his mind, and remarks on
the testimony in an impartial, reasonable, and particularly
lucid manner, but he has not Parkers amenity, courtesy, and
good-humour.

From the time my father left York until the 18th
April 1855, he kept no journal, which, he says, " I
am sorry for, as I met many pleasant people, and saw
much that was worth noting."

He evidently, however, visited Sir Francis Head,
as the latter writing from Oxenden on the 1st April,
says, " I have been very constantly thinking of the
happiness I and Lady Head enjoyed at seeing you
here."

He also mentions dining at Sir John Pakington's,
whom he saw again more than once on this visit.

Journal continiied.

18th April— I dined at the Bishop of Exeter's, 17 All
marie Street. Next me on my left was Hallam,1 now
eighty, but hale, and with all his faculties perfect, his memory
excellent, and great good-humour. He would make me pi
cede him in going in, notwithstanding my insisting that I

1 Hallam, the historian, author of ( ' View of the State of Europe dui
the Middle Ages" (1818).

xiv DEATH OF SIR R. IXCiLIS 373

" after the Middle Ages." Next him sat the Bishop, Mi-.
Phillpotts never dining on such occasions. Next him was
Lord Lyndhurst, then Baron Alderson,1 Mr. ('avi-iulish. Sir
William Heathcote, Lord Lovaine son of Lord Bevc
the Bishop of Peterboro\2 a son of Lord- Justice Kiiight-Uruce,3
and the Lord Chief-Justice himself, who sat on my right. We
had much delightful conversation, especially from Hallam, the
Bishop of Exeter, and Lord Lyndhurst, the youngest of whom
is seventy- seven. All remembered hearing Pitt, Fox, Burke. \c.
We had no end of professional anecdotes of the Bench and Bar,
in which Baron Alderson ex>

Lord Lyndhurst has become very infirm, but still clear and
vigorous in his mental faculties. He did not come up into the
drawing-room before dinner, but sat in the dining-room till
dinner was announced, to save the fatigue of walking upstairs.
After dinner he came upstairs without help.

I like Alderson much.

My excellent old friend, Sir Robert Inglis, died on Saturday,
5th May. I had seen him a very few days before, when he
told me that he was not recovering his strength after an i!!
which had commenced with a cold in December last, and that
he had been warned that he might drop off at any time
suddenly.

It was so, in fact, for he was in his drawing-room in the
evening, and died in the same night.

I have not met more kindness from any one in England.
Considering that our acquaintance was casual, commencing
with his calling upon me in 1839 without any introduction, it
was remarkable.

Sir Robert Inglis's cordial friendship my father
much valued. The YV///<.s, in announcing his death,
says : "A more conscientious man never ent<
the walls of Parliament. Destroy fifty able poli-

1 Sir Edward Alderson, Judge, died 18,57.

2 George Davys.

8 Sir James Lewis Kuight-Bruce, Lord Justice, Court of Chancerv ;
died 1866.

374 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

ticians, and twice fifty able administrators, and it
needs but five minutes' search to replace them, but
we much question if there be a man in England
who can take the place Sir Robert Inglis filled as
representative of the University of Oxford."

Journal continued.

I attended, on two days, the Courts sitting in Westminster
Hall in Term (Easter).

Lord Campbell l despatches business well, is earnest in his
attention, his hearing perfect, and his memory, as it seemed to
me, quite unimpaired.

In the Common Pleas, Jervis, C.J.,2 is an acute business
man, but looks in ill-health.

I was most in the Exchequer, because they were delivering
judgments there. The Judges all gave their judgments orally
from notes, as I suppose they generally do, when they dispose
in the term of cases argued that term. These judgments
delivered orally are far less satisfactory than written judg-
ments— rambling, and not so clear, or so well arranged.

Parke, B., delivers his judgment clearly and pleasantly,
giving his reasons distinctly and agreeably. Platt 3 was rather
dogmatic — " I totally deny," &c. Martin 4 spoke clearly and
with a particularly good voice.

. . . On the whole, I saw nothing very peculiar in the
system here. Like circumstances seem to produce like courses
and consequences, here and there (i.e. in England and Upper
Canada).

I went also to the House of Lords, and heard an argument
of a Scotch appeal on the construction of a will — whether an
estate vested or not according to Scotch law.

It was evidently an appeal in effect from a Court of several
judges in Scotland to the English Lord Chancellor on a point

1 Raised to the Peerage 1841 ; Lord Chief-Justice 1850 ; Lord Chan-
cellor 1851).

3 Sir John Jervis, Chief-Justice of the Common Pleas ; died 1856.

3 Sir Thomas Platt, Baron of the Exchequer ; died 1862.

4 Sir Samuel Martin, Baron of the Exchequer ; died 1883.

-

xiv LAW COURTS AND CANADA

of Scotch law, and that Chancellor often appointed from poli-
tical considerations. It seems unsatisfactory, but I belie-
not complained of.

We attended, upon Dr. Jelfs l invitation, the annual dis-
tribution of pri/es to medical students in Kind's Col.
Somerset House.

Kinma, Mary, and I took luncheon • at the Principal
at three walked over to the collt

The Bishop of Winchester2 presided and presented the
prizes, and did it happily and well.

I was asked by Lord Radstock to second the motion for a
vote of thanks to the Hishop, which I did, and made a short
speech.

At M'ClintockV Chester Square, I met at dinn.
Edward Ryan,4 P.C., a member of the Judicial Comm:
diaries Lefroy, Mr. and Mrs Moodv — >1: r of Bennett's

father, our young friend in Toronto, and a clever, well-read
woman.

I Sir Kdward Ryan spoke to me of the appeal case, Holmes
. Matthews (just determined), said it was a very interesting
one, and was most strong and emphatic in his praise of the
ability shown in the judgment* sent from Upper Canada in
that and the other cases. He said it was a matter of great
remark every term. He regretted that I was not present at
the argument and judgment, to hear in what terms our judg-
ments \\ere ^pokeil of.

llth MID/. — I attended a levee at St. James's Palace.
There was an enormous crowd — not less, they said, than

As I was rising I observed the Quei-n was saying something
to me with a very benignant smile, and in a soft pleasing

1 R. W. Jelf, D.D.. 1'rindpal of Kind's Colle::.
-hop Sunnier, Bishop of Winchester j li5_7

First Lord Rathdonnell, married Mi» I.ef'rm, Bister of Sir Henry
Lefroy.

! Sir Kdward Ryan. Assistant Controller of the Kxchequer, If!"
Had been Chief-Juttae of licn-ral ; died 1

6 He was presented by tlie Secretary of State for the Colonies on re-
ceiving the baronetage.

376 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

voice ; but not expecting that she would say anything, I did
not catch a word. I suppose it was some form of congratula-
tion.

I wore the Order of the Bath and my Detroit medal.
Warren l wondered what it could be, and was, or seemed, in-
credulous when I told him that it was not on account of any
fight in Court, but for taking part in the capture of Detroit
forty-two years ago.

I dined the same day with Mr. Franks of the Canada
Company, 27 Cumberland Street, Portman Square. I observed
here the new style 2 fully carried out. The gentleman of the
house leads the way to dinner, with the lady among the guests
who has precedence. The lady of the house stands fast, and
the lady-guests keep their seats till she calls forward gentlemen
one by one to take them out, having probably resolved before-
hand who shall take whom. Then, when all were paired and
sent off, I followed with her.

In coming into the drawing-room, before dinner, the husband
and wife in every case walked forward separately, not arm in
arm.

I4fth May. — I dined with Sir Henry Holland. His son
having very lately lost his wife, he could have no large party.
Besides myself, there was only Baron Alderson and Mr. Bram-
well,5 Q.C., one of the Common Law Commissioners and a
leading counsel on the home circuit. Sir Henry Holland's
wife is a daughter of the Rev. Sydney Smith, the Edinburgh
Reviewer. There is just coming out a life of Sydney Smith
written by her.

Bramwell visited America, as I understood him, last year,
and had a letter to me, but did not reach Toronto. He amused
me, when I was introduced to him, by telling me that while
in Lower Canada he inquired, " Suppose the independence of

1 Samuel Warren, whom he had met at the levee, author of " Diary
of a Physician," &c.

2 This seems rather to fix the present custom as having come in about
1855.

3 George William Bramwell, Baron of the Exchequer, 1856, after-
wards Lord Bramwell.

xiv QUEEN'S LEVEE 377

Canada should be conceded, who would he fir>t President?""
and was told, "Without doubt, Chief-Justice Robinson ! "

I told him that he must have fallen in with some of my
confederates, but that I had no such aspirations.

Sir Henry was warm in his admiration of Bond's Lake,1
which Christopher drove him out to see.

Baron Alderson is full of fun and good-humour, and very
unassuming in his manner.

Sir Henry Holland2 more than once visited
America. The following is a letter from him to my
father, written two years before this date :—

L':{ MHIIOK STIIKKT, LoiOXUTj March 1H, 1 •'

MY DKAK CHIKI -.IIMK i:, — Your letter of the 15th January
uas in every way most welcome to me, but above all a
expression of your friendship and esteem, upon which, whether
meeting again or not, I shall ever set great value.

Whether I may visit America a third time is doubtful.
Perhaps (and I shall gladly believe this) it is more probable
that you may come over to England, to see what we are doing
on this side of the Atlantic. You will find this old country
of ours in a prosperous state, and with every aspect and likeli-
hood of further advancement, if we do not run on too fast, or
if a war with France does not intervene. In the latter event
few can bring themselves seriously to believe, but, strangely
enough, a question thus deeply important really depends on
the individual character and position of the man who has by a
sort of miracle (made up, however, of sagacious cunning, bold-
ness, and chance) placed himself on the throne of that country.
Little did I think of this eventuality when (twenty-one years
ago) I was called to attend him in a serious illness in a London
lodging, or again, more recently, when I attended him profes-
sionally about the time of his Boulogne expedition. I never

1 About twenty miles north of Toronto.

• Very eminent as a physician, and created a baronet ; father of the
present Lord Knutsford, for some years Secretary of State for the
Colonies.

378 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

thought him a commonplace man, as many here did, but I must
fairly own that I formed no conception of the singular faculties
he has since displayed. . . .

Let me entreat you to remember me with kindness to every
one of your family now in Toronto. I shall ever retain a sense
of your kindness to myself when with you.

Farewell, my dear Chief-Justice, and believe me, with great
regard, yours faithfully, H. HOLLAND.

16th May. — I dined with Lord Lyndhurst. I sat between
Lord Hardwicke and Mr. Walpole, late Secretary of State.
The rest of our party were the Marquis of Salisbury, Lord
Stanley, Lord Campbell, C.J., and Edward Ellice — Lady
Lyndhurst the only lady.

17th May. — I dined with Ernest Hawkins. We had Judge
Coleridge there, his daughter, son, and son-in-law, and several
others.

Coleridge l is a fine old man, most interesting in appearance
and kind in his manners. We discussed many things, very
agreeably — to me at least.

At half-past seven I went to 37 Chesham Street to the
birthday dinner.2

The dinner has lost half its 'splendour as compared with
former times, in consequence of the separation of the Depart-
ment of War from that of the Colonies. When I was last here
fifteen years ago, I dined at Lord Normanby's, then Secretary
of State for the Colonies, and we had a very large and brilliant
party, Lord Hill and all the Staff of the Army. . . .

We had I suppose about twenty-four or twenty-six,
found Lord John much older looking. He was very courteoi
to me, and called me up next to the Duke of Argyll, who sal
on his left. The Bishop of Sierra Leone,3 just consecrated, w*
next me on my left. Lord Elgin was on Lord J. RusselP

1 Sir John Taylor Coleridge, Judge of the Queen's Bench ; retired
1858 ; died 1876 ; father of John Duke Coleridge (Lord Coleridge, Soli-
citor-General 1868, and afterwards Chief-Justice Court of Common Pleas).

2 Dinner given on the Queen's birthday by Lord J. Russell, Secretary
of State for the Colonies.

3 John Wills Weeks.

xiv QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY DINNER

right, opposite to me. There were few others that I knew or
whose names I caught.

His Grace, Lord John, Lord Elgin, and I had a good
deal of conversation together, and I had much talk with my
neighbour, the Bishop. He told me he had lived twenty J
at Sierra Leone. I found lie knew William Stanton well.1

I came home at half-past ten. Many houses on my way
were brilliantly illuminated.

18/7* Mat/. — I went at half- past twelve to a meeting of the
Financial Committee of the Society for the Propagation of the
(iospel in Foreign Paris, as the matter to be- considered was the
Bishop of Toronto's request for aid from the Society to enable
us to carry out the Commutation Scheme. We spent two
hours over the question. About fifty attended, clergy and
laitv. Lord Powis spoke. He afterwards got himself intro-
duced to me, when he thanked me in warm terms for the kind-
ness he .said we had shown his brother, PC rev Herbert of the 4'5rd,
in Toronto.- The Archbishop of Canterbury was in the chair.

Dined at the Lefroys'. Met Aylmer, Julius Airev, and
young Hobinson, grandson of Sir William, a clerk in the
commissariat branch, at the War Office.3

19th May. — Went with J. M'Clintock, Sir George Forster,
Mr. Forster, and Mr. Vere from the Carlton Club to see the
immense steamer, the Gn-at Eastern, building on the Isle of
Dogs. We went from Hungerford Stairs in a small steamer
down the river till we got opposite to the shipyard. Then we
got into a small boat, rowed ashore, and visited the monster.

She is 695 feet long, of iron, built in compartments, and
we were told will have four engines, in all &500 horse-power,
which seems small ;4 she is but little advanced, but is expected
to be launched this year.

1 William Stanton of Toronto, and in the Commissariat Department.

Afterwards Sir Percy Herbert, who was on the Quartermaster-
(ii'iiend's Staff in the Crimea, and subsequently Quartermaster-General
of the Army.

3 \\". II. B. Robinson, died unmarried at Bermuda in 1!',.V>.

4 This was one of the chief reasons probably for the want of

the f-rrnt Ka*tern. Of our present largest steamers the Cflric and Celtic
only exceed her in length by five feet, but their engines have seven times
greater horse- power.

380 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

May (Sunday). — We went to Dr. Cumming's chapel,
Crown Court, near Drury Lane. Mr. Moffat, M.P., our fellow-
passenger from Boston, had given us seats which he had there.
It was crowded. The sermon was remarkable for ease of
elocution, grace, and fluency, without effort or any attempt
at display, the matter sound and sensible. No clap-trap
either in the sentimental or any other line. They are lucky
Presbyterians who have such a pastor.

2lst May. — We went in a carriage with two horses, taking
Emily with us, to Woolwich, to see Captain and Mrs. Young-
husband l and visit the Arsenal. We lunched at the Young-
husbands1, and then went with him and Jonas Jones 2 to the
Arsenal. We were much interested in our visit to the various
workshops.

22nd May. — I went to a conversazione at the S.P.G. rooms,
79 Pall Mall, after having first gone with Henry Lefroy to
see the experiments made by Mr. Goldsworthy Gurney on
the power of the Bude light. I was amazed by the dazzling
brilliancy of the light, and it seems to be obtained by a very
simple process. I was much struck with Lefroy's quickness
and apparent familiarity with the principles of optics and
recent discoveries respecting them, as well as his ready com-
prehension of whatever in chemistry or otherwise Mr. Gurney
desired to explain to him. As soon as we had finished I went
to the Society's gathering. About sixty or seventy persons
were there. The Bishop of London, a bishop from Scotland,
Lord Powis, Dr. Jelf, King's College, a mixture of clergy and
laity, among them Tagore, the Hindoo Christian whom I dined
with at Ernest Hawkins1, and a Samaritan, a tall, fine-looking
man from Mount Gherizim.

24*th May. — Dined at Mr. Edward Ellice's, 18 Arlington
Street, the curious old house of the Lord Arlington of the
" Cabal " in Charles II.'s time.

1 Afterwards General Youughusband (Royal Artillery).

2 A son of the Mr. Justice Jones, Toronto, Canada, mentioned specially
by Sir Francis Head in "The Emigrant" for services rendered to him
in 1838.

xiv DR. GUMMING— CAPT. M-l'I.rKK

We had of our party, besides young Kllice. Lord Stanley.
Lady DufFerin, Lord Francis Seymour, chairman of tin- Srl>a-
topol Committee, and Lady Sevmour, a Major Ra\\ linson,1
who has only two days ago returned from Bagdad, lit
not, he told me, intend going out again, finding he suffers from
and the danger to health too great. I had next to me
Captain McClure,2 who made the North- Wed passage, though
not with his ship. We had much talk. He -crvcd rigi
months on the lakes in Canada, chieflv stationed at Kingston,
and suddenly left it in 18J3S, in consequence of having violated
the American territory in pursuing and taking Kelly, an
iate of Hill Johnson's, and concerned with him in dest rov-
ing the .Sir Hubert 7Y<7.

29/// May. — I went with Henry in the evening to a soi
the Civil Kngiii'-crs, an annual mceti

Westminster. Then- was an immense crowd of people. Mr.
Simpson, C.K., presided. I saw there Farad 1;ige,4 and

many clever, eminent men.

My father now left London for Bath. Frenchay,
^leasby, &c., and writes :—

June. — At 4 left Bath for Frenchav in a Hv. It is four
miles from Bristol, a very pretty village. I found Colonel
llobinson — formerly in the 72nd Highlander.^ and still on
half-pay — an agreeable, well-informed man. His wife is a
daughter of Admiral Buckle.

We spent a most pleasant evening, and had much family
chat about friends known to both.

I saw portraits of Sir William Robinson and his wife

1 Afterwards Sir Henry Rawlin-on, diplomatist and Orientalist,
( <m-ul at Bagdad, 1844-65, Envoy to Peiv-ia IH.11).

'-' Captain (afterwards Sir Robert) McClure, H.N.. di-cnvrred the
North-West Passage, but had to abandon \\\< ship, the hu't'atiyntor.
Parliament awarded officers and crew £'K>.Ooo.

Michael Faraday, celebrated chemist and ph\ 11 1791, died

18(57.

' Charles Babbage, mathematician, inventor of the calculating
machine.

382 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Catherine, daughter of General Skinner. Sir William died in
1837, she some years later.

I saw also miniatures of Colonel Beverley Robinson and his
wife Susannah Philipse, a good-looking couple. I thought I
could trace Sir William's face plainly in his mother's, and the
Robinson features and face in the Colonel's. They have also a
handsome portrait of Sir William Robinson when about twenty,
and one of General Sir Frederick Robinson — small size, very
like — and showing him to have been, what he really was, a
splendid man, though this was taken when he was very old.

2nd June. — Left Frenchay at 10 A.M., and got to Bristol in
time for the train via Cheltenham, Birmingham, and Derby
to York. It was eleven at night when we reached York, and
at 2 A.M. I took the night train to Darlington, arriving there
at 3.5 A.M., and went to the Sun Inn.

3rd June (Sunday). — Drove to Cleasby, three miles up the
Tees from Darlington, in time for church.

After church he made the acquaintance of the
curate of Cleasby, the Rev. J. H. Coombe, who took
him over the church and schoolhouse, showing him
several things of interest in connection with Dr. John
Robinson, Bishop of London, who, with his brother
Christopher, the first of the family to emigrate to
Virginia, was born in this village, where he built and
endowed the schoolhouse and contributed to restore
the church and parsonage.1

Describing Cleasby my father writes : —

The Tees is a fine, clear, rapid river, about the size of the
Credit (in Upper Canada) with perhaps a larger body of water
in it. The banks are of fine gravel. Cleasby is certainly not
a go-ahead place, but is a sweetly situated, quiet, little country
village, no appearance of decay about it, or of wealth or
business. The whole population is about 200. It is what

1 See Appendix A., i.

xiv FRENCHAY— CLKASBY 383

is called a perpetual curacy, ami the incunih.-nt for the last
sixteen years has been the Rev. James Jameson, who
altogether at Kipon, and has t n ('k-n-l>Y tor the last

ten years. I have heart! our Vice-Chancellor, the late Mr.
Jameson, speak of his having a brother a clergvman living at
Kipon, and have no doubt he is the same man.1

The place has an excellent reputation for health, especially
in the case of those who have weak lungs. It is in the North
Riding of Yorkshire, ami the little river Tees divides it from
Durham. On all sides, from the high lands in the parish, the
prospect is c-xtivnu-ly pleasing; the water is excellent. The
situation is beautiful and convenient, near Darlington, good
road", and pretty l;i

There are many good families within a circuit of ten
miles ... I have set down these particulars that if any of
our family should desire to establish themselves in England,
temporarily or otherwise, they may know that they could
scarcely do better than buy a small tract, and put up a com-
fortable house in the parish to which, in England, they belong,
and — what to some people would be a recommendation, though
to others the reverse — is that in the little village itself tin
a good field for improvement, for it has been neglected, and is
in consequence less taking to the eye than many others.

Croft is two miles off, through a lovely country ; Durham
about twenty ; Kipon between twentv and thirty. At the mouth
of the Tees is Redcar, a bathing-place with beautiful sands. The
drive through Appleby to the Lakes in Westmoreland and
Cumberland is short — about thirty miles or so. . . .

In the evening he drove to Darlington, and re-
turned to London via York on Monday, 4th June.

Journal continued.
I was asked by Mr. Weld 1 to a conversazione at the Royal

1 This was the case ; the Rev. Mr. Jameson of Ripou being the brother
of Vice-Chancellor Jameson of Toronto, whose wife, Anna .Jameson, was
the authoress of "Winter Studies and Summer Kainhles in Canada" (1838).

2 Mr. Weld, my father mentions, was half brother of Isaac Weld, who
wrote a history of his travels iu the United States and Canada in 1 ,

384 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Society's rooms on the 7th, and by Professor Potter to a
similar reunion of the professors, &c., of the London Uni-
versity for the same evening, and by Baron Parke to dine with
him, but having declined the two first under the impression
that I should be in Ireland, I declined the last also. The
Baron pressed me to go the Norfolk Circuit with him.

8th June (Saturday). — I went to Dublin by Holyhead, taking
Jonas Jones with me. We left by the N.W. Railway at 9.15.
We stopped at Chester long enough to dine. We got to Holy-
head a few minutes after the correct time, and at about six set
sail in the steamer Angksea for Dublin. Boat full and weather
cold.

We reached Kingston about eleven, and Morrison's Hotel,
Dublin, about twelve.

Monday r, 11 th June. — Before breakfast came an invitation
to dine to-day with the Lord Lieutenant, Lord Carlisle, at the
Viceregal Lodge, in the Phoenix Park.

Soon after ten, I took Jonas Jones with me and we drove
to Kilmainham to call on Lord Seaton, who occupies the
Commander-in-Chiefs quarters there ; found him at home and
looking surprisingly well.

He asked me to dine with him to-day, which I could not —
then for to-morrow, which I accepted.

He begs me also to come and dine with him every day, but
I have little time to be in Dublin, if I want to see anything
out of it. He took us over the hospital where the old
pensioners live. We went then to the Four Courts, this day
and to-morrow being the last two days of term.

Colonel Brown, the commissioner of the Dublin police,
called and took me to hear the band of the 7th Dragoon
Guards play in Merrion Square from four to six.

... I saw there, among many to whom I was introduced,
Sir Duncan MacGregor, the same officer who behaved so nobly
on the occasion of the loss of the Kent East Indiaman, and
wrote so touching an account of it.

At dinner (at the Viceregal Lodge) we had about twenty-
two. A French gentleman and lady of rank, the Marquis
of Drogheda, a large staff, Dr. Todd, librarian of Trinity

xiv DUBLIN— LORD SEATON 385

College, &c. I sat next the Lord-Lieutenant on his loft, next
me was Mr. M'Donell, the National Education Commissioner.
He spoke very highly of Robertson of the Normal School
(in Toronto). The Dean of Ardagh took us in his carriage.
Lord Carlisle was most attentive, talked to me of Peter
Reward, whom he has a verv kind remembrance of; also of
Mr. Todd, Samuel Jarvis, and the Bishop (Strachan).

\%th June. — Colonel Brown took me in his carriage round
the town, and showed us the- things best worth seeing. We went
over all the apartments in the Castle and his police establish-
ment. We visited the Bank of Ireland, and Dr. Todd took us
over Trinity College, the library and mii>eum. Sir Thomas
Dean went over the new building with us, an addition to
Trinity College which he is erecting as architect. He is the
successful architect among more than thirty competitors for
the new museum to be erected at Oxford.

Dined with Lord Seatou at Kilniainhain ; Colonel and Mrs.
Wood, his son Major Colborne and his wife, Major Hillier and
his wife, were of the party. In the evening we all went together
to a ball given in the Rotunda to the Lord-Lieutenant by the
officers of cavalry and artillery.

I was introduced by Lord Seaton to Lord Gough — a fine-
looking old soldier. Colonel Gordon Higgins, late of Quebec,
was one of the stewards. I came home before supper — about
twelve.

Next day I went, in consequence of a note from Chief-
Justice Lefroy,1 to see him in his house in Leeson Street at a
quarter before eleven. He had been too ill to be in Court in
term, but he had made a great and not prudent effort to come
this day to town in order to join with the other Judges in
disposing of an important case, which had been argued, and
which it was of consequence to have determined without delay.

I had barely time to go and see him, for we were off at
twelve for Killarney. On his way to Court he drove me to my
hotel, and I went at once to the railway station.

1 Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench in Ireland, 1HW to 1866, and a
cousin of Captain (afterwards Sir Henry) Lefroy. He died in 1869 in his
94th year.

2B

386 SIR JOHN BEVEKLEY ROBINSON CH.

The Chief-Justice has a very kind manner, and a bright
clear eye. It would have given me pleasure to have seen much
more of him.

At eight we reached Killarney and put up at an excellent
hotel, erected by the railway company, and kept by a German,
Mr. Schell — one-and-a-half miles from the Lake. We walked
to it while they were getting us supper.

14^ June. — We got three horses, and with an excellent
guide riding one of them, went about sixteen miles to the
head of the Lake, met there a boat which two men had
brought up for us (twelve miles) from Killarney, and then
sent back our horses, and made the usual tour of the Lake.
We took luncheon with us.

There are many scenes of great beauty in and around the
Lake, high mountains, rapid clear streams, romantic little
islands, and beautiful growth of wood. Innisfallen Island,
about eighteen acres, with the ruins of an old monastery upon
it and adorned with noble trees, now full of blossom, was most
lovely. The chief proprietors of this beautiful country are
Lord Kenmare and a Mr. Herbert.

In 1825 I dined with the then Lord Kenmare and Lady K.,
sister of Sir Wilmot Horton, at Sir Wilmot's house in Richmond
Terrace ; the only other guest was Mr. Huskisson. Now that
Lord Kenmare is dead, his widow is so inconsolable that
she has never since come to this enchanting spot, which she
had done more than any other person to adorn, but lives at
Brussels. The present Lord Kenmare is brother to her husband,
and was so much attached to him that he has never returned
to live at Killarney. Poor Huskisson met a miserable end in
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Sir Wilmot Horton
is dead, after years of suffering, and half his family and more
have died.

~\.5th June. — Rose about five and drove in a car to Muckross
Abbey, a beautiful ruin, and having seen that and a waterfall
returned, and at nine left for Cork by railway. We spent
three hours looking at the old city, and at three embarked on
the steamer Shamrock, which took us to Bristol (276 miles).

xiv KILLARNEY— CORK 387

Here we arrived on Saturday evening, Kith June, at half-
past seven. The cove of Cork and the banks of the Lea
between it and the sea are very beautiful — full of fine
and richly wooded.

My Irish excursion was in every respect a pleasant one,
and much attention was proffered to us if we could have
stayed.

On his return to London from Bristol on 17th
June he went with my mother and my two sisters
(Mrs. Lefroy and Mary) to Oxford, where he was to
receive the honorary degree of D.C.L., and where
Walter Merry1 had taken rooms for them at the
King's Arms, Oxford (near the Hadcliffe Library).

Journal continued.

I2()th June. — Breakfasted with Dr. Jeune, Master of Pem-
broke College.

Sir William Heathcote and Mr. Gladstone, the two members
for the University, were there ; also Sir \V. Gore C) mint

Montalembert, the Bishop of Lincoln and his wife, Mr. Monck-
ton Milnes, and some five or six others.

We breakfasted at nine, and at a quarter-past ten I went
to my inn to get my doctor's hat and gown, and go to the
Vice-Chancellor's (Dr. Cotton, Master of Worcester College),
where we, i.e. those who were to take honorary degrees, were
all to assemble at half-past ten, and go from thence in proces-
sion to the theatre, nearly half a mile.

Sir John Burgoyne2 was staving at our inn, and we went
together. The Warden of New College had lent me a doctor's
gown and cap, which had belonged to his brother, and we
assembled, including Lord Derby the Chancellor, and at half-

1 Now the Rev. Walter Merry, rector of Lincoln College and public
orator, a grandson of William Merry, who married Kli/.abeth Walker,
sister of my mother's father.

2 Afterwards Field-Marshal Sir John Burgoyne, Inspector-General of
Fortifications, and distinguished in the Peninsular and Crimean Wars.
Constable of the Tower, 1865.

388 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

past ten walked in red gowns and caps, the latter like old
Spanish hats.

There were seventeen to be doctors, and we were arranged
as follows : —

The Honourable James Buchanan, American Minister.

Le Comte de Montalembert.

Sir John Beverley Robinson.

Lieut.-General Sir John Fox Burgoyne.

Lieut.-General Sir de Lacy Evans.

Sir William Gore Ouseley.

Sir Charles Lyell Knight, F.R.S.

Richard Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.

Colonel Sabine, F.R.S.

Thomas Graham, Esq., F.R.S.

The Rev. Humphrey Lloyd, D.D.

Philip Bury Duncan, Esq., M.A.

The Rev. Frederick William Hope, F.R.S.

Alfred Tennyson, Esq., Poet Laureate.

George Gabriel Stokes, M.A., F.R.S.

John Couch Adams, M.A., F.R.S.

John Muir, Esq.

We walked, two and two, General Burgoyne and I together.
We were called, and the degrees conferred in the order in
which I have given the names.

Buchanan is a tall, singular-looking man. Count de Monta-
lembert a jolly, good-tempered-looking person. Burgoyne and
Evans well decked with medals, the former a weather-beaten
old soldier ; Evans taller, but seeming to be much shaken.

When all was ended we went and took luncheon with tl
Vice-Chancellor at Worcester College ; Lord Derby was then
Then we went in procession to see the corner-stone of the nei
museum laid at three P.M. Lord Derby laid it, and made
good speech. Prayers were read by the Vice-Chancellor, and a
hymn and " God save the Queen " was sung by the thousands
assembled.

At five, Emma, I, and Mary and all our party dined, as
guests of the Warden of New College, in the college hall.
Many ladies.

xiv OXFORD— MADE D.C.L. 389

June. — We returned to town, beit:
to dinner, or we should have probably stayed over that day
and seen more of the colleges, &c.

l£liul June. — Dined at Baron Parke's, ,5(j Park Street; a
large party. Lord Campbell, C.J., and his wife Lady Strath-
eden, Sir Roderick 1 and Lady Mmvhi.son, Willcs,- the barrister,
a sharp-witted agreeable man, Pemberton Leigh,3 Sir Henrv
and Lady Holland. I took in Lady Murdiison. Hi-r husband
seems a frank, agreeable man. I had a good deal of talk with him.

When lYmluTton Leigh was introduced to me he said,
"I know Chief-Justice Robinson well, and he is well known in
England by some admirable judgments which I have had the
pleasure of reading, and which have been before the Privy
Council — very admirable judgments," £r. I suppose I should
have said something in return, but I said nothing.

Hoth Lord Campbell and Parke spoke decidedly in favour
of hearing the evidence of parties in a suit. They said it made
the trials much longer, but that that evil was lessened by the
parties being treated more like other witnesses, and not suffered
to go upon all occasions into a tedious rigmarole about them-
selves and their affairs, unconnected with the cau-e. It also,
they said, undoubtedly gave rise to much perjury; but on the
other hand, the ends of justice were better attained in general,
and the jury could dispose more satisfactorily of the case after
iring what each party had to say on his own side. . . .

Baron Parke has the true spirit of a valuable public- servant
in him. He fairly admits that late changes (and they are just
now talking of adding another circuit) have added immensely
to the labours of the Judges, requiring usually three or four
hours'1 dailv attendance at chambers; but in the same breath
he said, "There is no doubt it's better; these things can be
best done in chambers.11

1 Sir Roderick Murchison, geologist, knighted 1846, created baronet
I860.

Probably the future Sir Janie- Slum Willos. who became a Judge in
the Court of Common Pleas shortly after this (3rd July 18oo), and died
in 1871'.

3 Afterwards Lord Kingsdown. Raised to the Peerage 1858. See
page 326.

390 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Baron Parke told me one day that Willes was the best
lawyer he had known practising at the Bar, and, he said, " I
can speak for fifty years."

Here the journal ends; but shortly after this,
during the month of July, my father went to the
Isle of Wight, and thence, with Walter Merry, to
Guernsey.

Here he spent a few days only, but was much
interested in what he saw of the island, where many
relations and connections of his old chief, in the war
of 1812-15, Sir Isaac Brock, lived. While there he
dined with the then Bailiff of Guernsey, Sir Peter
Stafford Carey, and with Mr. Henry Tupper of Les
C6tils, and met many people whom he was glad to
see.

In August 1855 he returned to Canada, and Sir
Francis Head writes to him on 3rd August : —

I cannot allow you and Lady R. and dear little Mary to
leave good old England without writing one line. I shall often
think of the few hours you spent here. I think we conversed
together for one whole day, without much more intermission
than the engine on the L. and N.-W. Railway wants to take in
coke and water.

Apparently my father and Sir Francis met (for
the last time) at one of the stations on the London
and North- Western Railway on the former's way to
Liverpool, for the latter writes from Oxenden, October
26, 1855 :-

Lady Head and I were glad to learn, from the kind note
written by you as soon as you reached the new side of the
Atlantic, that you had safely crossed that pool which has so
often been no respecter of persons.

xiv RETURN TO CANADA 391

We often talk of our farewell in the great hall of the
London and North- Western station, and feel gratified at the
feelings which brought you all thi-iv.

I have a very lively recollection of your house at Toronto,
and as my thoughts often hover over it, I think it not im-
possible that you and Lady Robinson, if you will but listen
attentively enough, may occasionally hear my k> spirit " nipping1
on the shingles that cover your roof.

They kept up their correspondence until my
father's death, and in the last of Sir Francis's letters,
September 17, ltf(i*J, he mentions the serious illness
of Lord Scaton, who died not very long after, in
April 1863.

1 At this time "spirit-rapping" was attracting some attention, especi-
ally in the Wi'<ti«ni world.

CHAPTER XV

CLOSING YEARS— BECOMES PRESIDENT COURT OF
ERROR AND APPEAL

1856 to 1863

Visit of the Prince of Wales (now Kin£ Edward VII.) to Canada-
Deputed by the Survivors of the War of 1812-15 to present him with
Address — Partial failure of health ; applies for relief from duties of
Chief -Justice — Letter from Sir E. Head — Retires from Court of
Queen's Bench and becomes President Court of Error and Appeal —
Address by members of the Bar — Farewell Banquet — The Globe as to
him — Reply to Address of Law Society — Last illness : death and
funeral — Personal characteristics, &c.

To the occurrences of the years 1856-59 I need make
no special allusion.

In 1860 the Prince of Wales, now King Edward
VII., visited Canada, and my father was deputed by
the survivors of the war of 1812-15 to draft, and
present him with, an address.

Thus it became one of his last acts, while Chief-
Justice, to welcome to the Upper Province, on behalf
of his old comrades in its defence in 1812-15, the
heir to the throne, and after doing so he added —

. . . We rejoice in the thought that what your Royal
Highness has seen, and will see, of this prosperous and happy
province will enable you to judge how valuable a possession
was saved to the British Crown by the successful resistance
made in the trying contest in which it was our fortune to bear
a part ; and your Royal Highness will then be also able to
judge how large a debt the Empire owes to the lamented hero
Brock, whose gallant and generous heart shrank not in the
darkest hour of the conflict from the most discouraging odds,
and whose example inspired the few with the ability and spirit
to do the work of many.

392

xv PRINCE OF WALES IN CANADA 393

We pray that God may bless your Royal Highness with
many years of health and happiness, and may lead von. bv His
providence, to walk in the paths of our revered and beloved
Queen, to whom the world looks up as an illustrious example
of all the virtues that can dignify the highe*t rank, support
worthily the responsibilities of the most anxious station, and
promote the peace, security, and happiness of private life.

By this time he had become a rather serious
sufferer from attacks of gout, partly hereditary, his
father having died from it when under forty years of
age. but aggravated by low ness of system, brought
on probably in great measure from too sedentary a
life, and unremitting work at his dr-k.

The nature of his duties, and bis anxiety to keep
the business of the Court from falling into arrear,
confined him too constantly to his library, and for
some time past he had been unable to take the exer-
cise which the medical men had repeatedly urged
upon him as necessary to his health.

Feeling that he was becoming no longer equal to
the severe strain of his work as Chief-Justice, he
wrote, on the 16th March 1861, to Sir Edmund Head,
rovernor-General of Canada, hoping that after thirty -
ro years upon the Bench it would not be thought
unreasonable that he " should desire some relief from
the incessant labour by which the business of the Court
had been kept from falling into arrear," and trusting
that, by an arrangement then in contemplation, his
duties might be confined to the Court of Appeal.

In reply Sir Edmund wrote to him privately on
the same day :—

I have conferred with the Attorney-General for Upper
Canada, and what he says has strengthened my own opinion

394 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

that your resignation as Chief-Justice at this moment would be
embarrassing and inexpedient.

I am convinced that there would be great difficulties in
filling your place . . .

May I venture to return your official letter ? I do so with
the sincere hope that you will consent to forego what I know
you much desire, and thus make a sacrifice which, after so many
years devoted to the public service, I have scarcely a right to
ask at your hands.

In consequence of this his retirement from the
Bench was for a time postponed ; in May he had a
serious attack of illness, and my mother referring to
this writes to Colonel Lefroy in England : —

May 16, 1861.

For the last fortnight he has neither taken book nor pen
in his hand. His sudden attack was a violent one, but, thank
God, he is rallying from it.

He had been holding the assizes in Toronto for four weeks,
steadily on the Bench from half-past nine A.M. to seven as the
common hour, but varying, according to the business of the
Court, to 9, 10, 11, and 1.

You know it is not his habit to complain of work that has
to be done, and we noticed only an unusual and constant
pallor. Our spring has been exceedingly cold, and owing to
some unlucky hindrance (smoke it was said) no fire could be
made either in the Court House or the Judge's room. Of this
discomfort he constantly spoke, and seemed often chilled
through. The last evening of the assizes a shivering fit came
on, with violent pain in the limbs like cramp. He was brought
home in a carriage, and from that time, for seven days, thei
was an entire prostration of body and thought — scarcely
power of utterance it appeared, or too great a disinclination
attempt it. His system had evidently received a severe shock.

Shortly afterwards, on 1st June 1861, an Ac1
having been in the meantime passed authorising the
appointment of any retired Judge of the Superic

xv PRESIDENT COURT OF APPEAL

Courts of Upper Canada to be Presiding .In dire of
the Court of Error and Appeal, he renewed his appli-
cation to resign the Chief-Justiceship, writing officially
to the late Sir John A. Macclonald, then Atton
(General of Upper Canada :

An illness which I have hud lately mak<-> UK- feel more
strongly the necessity of retiring from my judicial labours,
either altogether or to such an extent as will enable me in
future to have that occasional relaxation which I much need.

er this conviction, I beg you will make known to his
Excellency the Governor-General my wish to retire from the
office of Chief-Justice either now or at anv time before the next
circuit, which will begin about the end of September next.

I desire, however, to take no step in this matter which
does not meet with the entire concurrence of his Excellency.

It was not though until the 15th of March 1862
that his retirement was finally carried out, and he
was appointed President of the Court of Error and
Appeal.

Upon the close of his connection with the Court of
Queen's Bench, addresses, expressive of their regret,
were presented to him by the members of the Bar
and the members and students of the Law Society,
and he was invited by the Bar to a farewell banquet
in Toronto. From the address which its members
presented to him I quote the following extract : —

We use no language and offer no words of idle HatUry.
but with candour and pure sincerity, we hesitate not to say
that by your zeal, indefatigable talents of the rarest and
highest order, power of perception unequalled, patience, affa-
bility of manner, and a constant desire and anxiety to ad-
minister justice in its purity, you have never tailed to inspire
confidence, alike in the profession and the suitor, which will

396 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

ever be held dear in their memories, and have justly earned you
an everlasting reputation as a jurist.

At this farewell banquet Mr. Henry Eccles, Q.C.,
treasurer of the Law Society, presided. It was held
in June 1862 in the library of Osgoode Hall, and
there were some 200 present, including many guests
of the clergy and military.

In referring to it the Globe newspaper of Toronto,
though it represented the political party to which my
father had been opposed during his parliamentary life,
made this generous allusion to him : —

We are not of the school of politics to which Sir John
Robinson belonged, and were he in public life now, it is certain
that we should differ widely from his views.

But that ought not, and shall not, prevent us paying a
tribute of praise to a well-spent and honoured life. . . .
Doubtless he was often in the wrong. Who has not been
proved by time to be in the wrong ? But no one will deny to
him the credit of being perfectly sincere and honest in his
convictions, and having laboured for them with conscientious
zeal and assiduity.

In reference to one part of his public career no limit need
be placed on our praises. He was a strong friend of British
connection, and defended this outpost of England with a
courage which knew no difficulty.

As the acknowledged head of society in this province, Sir
John Robinson has exercised as great an influence as in his
political sphere, and has used it in an eminently beneficial
manner.

In his own personal habits temperate, frugal, chaste, and
dignified, liberal in his hospitality, a friend of morality, and
an enemy of excess, there can be no question that his example
has had a powerful influence on social habits, not only in this
city, but throughout the whole province.

As subject, parent, and member of society, he stands before
his countrymen " sans peur et sans reproche," worthy of the

xv BANQUET AND ADDRESSES 597

honours bestowed upon him by his Sovereign, and of the
esteem and respect of his fellow-citi/ens.

The following formed the concluding paragraph
of my father's reply to the address of the members of
the Law Society :—

Leaving a Court in which the whole of the active part of
my life has been passed could not fail to be attended with a
painful feeling of regret, for I may say that, out of my family
circle, it has constituted mv home. The duties which it will
give me pleasure to continue to discharge in the Court of Krror
anil Appeal will associate me as in time past with my brothers
of the Bench and of the Bar, so long as I may be blessed with
health sufficient for their performance. And may God grant
that we all may bear in mind the account which we must one
day render of the time and talents committed to our charge.

Although the serious words which conclude this
reply might have been spoken by my father solely
under the influence of that feeling which all thought-
ful men must experience when they lay down their
more active work, after attaining the 1'salmist's limit
of man's years, still it is probable that, when he uttered
them, he was conscious, from a sense of failing
strength, that his own days would not be long prolonged.

He had never been forgetful of the end of life ;
and the following lines, preserved by my mother,
and understood to be his own, may be taken to
express the feelings of his heart : —

For me, I have no mortal fear

No tremblings as I hurry down ;
The way is clear, the end is near,

The goal, the glory, and the crown.
Then shed no bitter tears for me

As ye consign me to the dust ;
Rather rejoice that I shall be

With God, my strength and trust.

398 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

In the early autumn of 1862 he had a severe
attack of gout, which would not yield to treatment,
and which he never entirely shook off; and though
he continued to do his work, it became difficult for
him to move about.

On 10th October, the sister of Sir Allan MacNab
writes to him :-—

Hearing from my brother John, who returned from Toronto
this morning, that you were suffering from an attack of gout,
reminded me of a wish expressed to me long ago by my dear
brother Sir Allan, that, should you survive him, I would send
you his crutches.1 In complying with his request, I regret
extremely that you should be suffering so much as to necessi-
tate the use of them.

And my father, in thanking her for her letter,
says :—

I am undergoing a tedious, but not very painful attack of
gout, and at the end of ten weeks cannot make any use of my
right foot, but there are some signs of amendment, though the
only favourable symptom is increased pain.

At intervals there was some slight improvement,
and early in January 1863 he was able — though the
effort he made to do it was imprudent — to preside
in the Court of Appeal.

On the 14th, after working for many hours upon
his Judgments in some special cases, he was seized
with an attack of severe pain, accompanied by great
debility, and never, I think, subsequently left his
room.

By the 28th there was so marked a failure of vital
power that the medical men attending him 2 had

1 These he afterwards constantly used.

2 Drs. Hodder, Bovell, and Small.

xv LAST ILLNESS— DEATH

little hope that his constitution would enable him
to rally.

That afternoon Bishop Strachan and Dr. Cir,-i
Rector of St. James' Church, administered the sacra-
ment to him, when he was able to join with them
in the service. Upon his deathbed he repeated at
intervals many passages from Pope's " LTnivcrsal
Prayer," which had always been a favourite of his,
and on the 31st January, at a little before nine in
the morning, he passed painlessly and peacefully to
rest, relief from all suffering having been mercifully
granted to him shortly before the close.

His was a bright morning, and, after the inevitable storms
and troubles of the day, a serene and unclouded evening —
harbinger, let us believe, of the peace which in the kingdom of
glory shall be perpetual and unbroken.1

All the members of his family were with him
during his last illness. My sister Mary was at the
time engaged to Donald Maclnnes, of Dundurn,
Hamilton, Canada, and their marriage took place
quietly a few weeks later (April 30, 18«

I may add that my mother's health began to
give way soon afterwards. She died on 27th May
1865, and was laid to rest beside him. My father's
sisters also — Mrs. Heward and Mrs. Boulton — both
followed him to the grave in the year of his own
death (1863).

Resolutions expressive of regret at my father's
loss, and sympathy and condolence with his family.
were passed by the members of the Bar, the members
and students of the Law Society, the Corporation

1 Address of Bishop Bethune to the students of Trinity College, allud-
ing to my father.

400 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

of Trinity College, the Mayor and Corporation of
Toronto, the Canadian Institute, the Church Society,
and other public bodies.

At the request of the Law Society, and of many
of the citizens of Toronto, the funeral was made a
public one, and took place on Wednesday afternoon
the 4th February 1863, amid every expression of
general sorrow.

He was buried in St. James' Cemetery, near the
beautifully wooded deep ravine beyond which, in
1794, "Castle Frank" stood.

The family vault in which my father lies was a
gift from Bishop Strachan, who in a note to him
of 23rd July 1848, says :—

I have caused a tomb, containing two vaults, to be erected
in the ground I purchased in the cemetery. ... As there is,
in fact, no choice between the two, I have assigned the west to
you, and the east to myself.

And he hopes that he will feel no reluctance to accept
this gift.

When Bishop Strachan died in 1867, it was most
properly decided that he should be interred under
the chancel of that cathedral with which he had been
so closely associated, but I give the above note, as
there is something touching in it. It shows his
attachment to my father, and that the thought was
at one time in his mind that after this life they
should rest near each other.

At the installation of the Hon. John Hillyard
Cameron to succeed my father as chancellor of Trinity
College, the Rev. Provost Whitaker said : —

Our College and University has lost in Sir John Robinson
one of its wisest counsellors, one of its steadiest friends ; a man

xv FUNERAL— OBITUARY NOTICES 401

who never swerved for a moment from the course which he felt to
be right, because that course might seem to involve unpopularity,
or a sacrifice of material interests ; who had embraced exalted
principles of action, and firmly adhered to those principles.

We have lost one who gave most patient attention to any
subject on which his counsel was sought, bestowing on it indeed
what others might esteem, in regard either to its absolute or
relative importance, undue thought and labour. We have
lost one whose equable temper, whose cheerful urbanity made
it at all times a pleasure to hold communication with him.

I must be permitted to add that I believe any {
coming from the old country must have been struck by the
faithfulness with which he presented amongst us the type of
an English gentleman, not only in respect of the more im-
portant points of moral principle and feeling, but also in
respect of the minor gracr> of demeanour, those small details
of conduct which scarcely admit of being particularised, but
which collectively impart an inexpressible beauty to the life,
and do assuredly indicate that a man has k-anieil, by a delicate
spiritual perception, to recognise what is due, before God, to
his neighbour and to himself.

And Mr. Cameron, referring to what had been
said above, added :—

You have well depicted the character of the late chancellor.

In every relation of life he stood pre-eminent, and to those
who like myself, for upwards of twenty years, have enjoyed
the privilege of close communion with him as their chief,
there is no power in language to portray their high estimate
of his ability.

His sweetness of temper, his gentleness of manner, hib
courtesy, were proverbial, and in the long roll on which this
University shall write the names of her future chancellors, no
name will ever be found of brighter lustre than the first.

I have inserted in the Appendix, more for family
than general information, an account of my father s

2c

402 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

funeral, and some obituary notices which appeared
in the press ; 1 also the inscriptions on tablets which,
together with a memorial window to him, have been
placed to his memory and that of other members of
his family in the chancel of St. James' Cathedral,
Toronto.

1 Appendix B., vi. Omitting details of appointments and service,
&c., which have been mentioned in the preceding pages, I have given full
extracts from these notices in the press. Coming as they did from all
parts of the country, and appearing in journals representing different
shades of politics, they show the general estimation in which my father
was held in Canada, and will be of interest to his descendants.

CHAPTER XVI

CONCLUSION— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, ETC.

of my father's private life, and some of his
personal characteristics, the I MIC Journal of Upper
Canada, of March ISC.;}, says :—

Sir John Robinson's .social life exercised a great influence
on the nuis.so. His private life gained for him, if possible,
more thoroughly the affections of the people than even his
public services. He was emphatically a good man, and a
God-fearing Christian. He had none of those peculiarities
or eccentricities which frequently characterise the dispositions
of great men. His manners and tastes were simple and un-
affected. His conversation was varied with livelv illustrations
of wit and humour. Generously hospitable, none enjoyed
sociability more than Sir John. His hand was at all times
open to relieve any urgent case of suffering or necessity. His
genuine kind-heartedness, and his downright honesty of purpose,
made him the idol of society, and the valued companion of all
who were honoured by his friendship.

He was gifted with remarkable accuracy and strength of
memory, and from all parts of the country he was frequently
appealed to to explain the relationship of present affairs
with the distant past.

And in alluding to the purity of style of some of
his addresses upon public occasions, it instances the
one delivered at the laying the foundation-stone of
the Provincial Lunatic Asylum in Toronto in 184<i.
I therefore give here a few extracts from this addros.
which was of some length :—

403

404 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

Let us consider who are the insane ? Here we see one who
for some inscrutable purpose of Providence, doubtless wise and
just as we shall know hereafter, has in his blood or in his brain
(for who can solve the mystery ?) the seeds of hereditary
insanity. There another who has lost his reason by chaining
down his mind to the abstract problems of mathematical
science, or perplexing himself amidst the combinations of
mechanical powers, or with the boundless infinity of astro-
nomical calculations.

Who can have a claim to sympathy if these have not?
It is to such ardent minds that we owe in a great measure
the elevation of our race. Forgetting that they had their
" treasure in earthen vessels," l they allowed themselves to be
nobly reckless in the pursuit of science, not heeding the great
truth that none of nature's laws can be disregarded with
impunity.

We may be assured that if it were given to us in such cases
to look into the mysteries of the mental structure (if I may be
pardoned the misuse of the expression) it would often be appal-
ling to perceive how frightfully thin is the partition which
separates the noblest flights of genius and the grandest specula-
tions of science from the wild dreams of the visionary or the
ravings of the maniac. Then, again, how many of the best
and purest minds sink under the oppression of religious
melancholy. Grief, too, sends its victims — grief for wounded
affections or ruined fortunes — generally the most overwhelming
in the kindest natures.

And even with regard to those whose intemperate excesses
or perverted passions have led to the ruin of their intellect,
how seldom can we tell that if we knew the force of their
temptations, or could make due allowance for the pressure of
adverse circumstances, or the absence of early discipline, we
should not feel them to be much more deserving of compassion
than of reproach ?

Whatever may be the cause of their calamity, it is a delight-
ful thought that " when nature being oppressed commands the

1 2 Corinthians iv. 7-

xvi PERSONAL TRAITS 405

mind to suffer with the body,11 the directors of this asylum Mill
be enabled, by the humane care of the Government, to proclaim
to all alike, "What comfort to this great decay may come
shall be supplied."

Nothing can be conceived more desolate than their condi-
tion, with all the alleviation that man can devise for it. In
the expressive language of Scripture, " Their sun is gone down
while it is yet day.11

Two or three very good portraits of my father
exist. One is in the library of Osgoode Hall,
Toronto. It was taken in 1845 by Mr. Berthon
of Toronto "by desire of the gentlemen of the
profession of the Law."

Another is by George Richmond, R.A., and is in
Beverley House. It was taken in London in 1855,
and was in the Royal Academy of that year.

Another is a full-length photograph by Palmer
of Toronto, taken about 1860.

I may add, from personal recollection of him,
that in his reading he was particularly fond of
history, biography, and travel. Some books of
fiction interested him, but not many. Pope, Gold-
smith, Campbell, and Scott were favourites. Shake-
speare he read frequently, and upon his circuits he
generally took with him either Virgil or Horace.

He read very fast, but yet had a retentive memory
of all he read. This natural gift, and the exceptional
power he possessed of concentrating his mind upon
whatever subject engaged it, and yet at will dismiss-
ing this from it, were a great advantage to him. They
have often astonished me. Having sat deeply ab-
sorbed at his desk upon legal work from nine o'clock
in the morning until six in the evening, with but a

406 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON CH.

short interval, he would at dinner converse as freely
and brightly upon general subjects, and with a mind
apparently as divested of grave thoughts, as if they
had never recently occupied it. The presence and
conversation of others in the room with him, unless
he were himself addressed, never disturbed him.

He very rarely alluded to local politics, though
he followed them with interest. The reason no
doubt was, that, having taken so prominent a part
in them for many years, he was sensible that it was
more becoming, in his position upon the Bench, not
to discuss them.

He was punctual to a degree, not an exceptionally
early riser, but never late for anything, and was
naturally active in his habits. Though very tem-
perate in his mode of life, he was not ascetic or
extreme in anything.

As a young man he was fond of riding and
horses. Up to the time (1838) when he had his first
serious illness, he rode as frequently as he could in
the evening, and often with his wife and children.

In 1828 he writes : "I intend riding to New-
market in a few days.1 Emma rides almost every
evening, and Lukin." And he did not entirely give
this up until about 1853, though latterly he could
rarely find time for it.

It has been said with some truth by Mr. Fennings
Taylor2 that "he had the inclinations of a sports-
man and the tastes of a naturalist, though he had
not the time to gratify the one or cultivate the other."
In everything connected with country life he was
interested, and nothing gave him greater pleasure

1 Newmarket is over thirty miles to the north of Toronto.

2 "Portraits of British Americans."

xvi RELKMOl'S FEELING 407

than a visit to one of his farms, such as that at
Bond's Lake, which he owned for some time. He
would walk for hours over ground which he remem-
bered as a boy, and took a keen delight in observing
the changes which had taken place in the course of
years. His memory for localities was unusually good ;
and in driving up Yonge Street from Toronto to
Holland Landing, some forty miles, he could name
almost all, if not all, the owners of farms upon each
side of the road, and the different hands through
which the land had passed from its first settlement.

He was devoted to young people and children.

Of his attachment to the Church of England I
have said quite enough, and will only add that,
though he spoke little of his religious feelings, these
were very deep and consistent.

The Bible he studied constantly ; Paley's works
and Blair's, and other practical sermons, frequently.

Perhaps I may best convey the careful manner in
which he examined the New Testament by saying
that among his papers is a long memorandum, cover-
ing twenty-three pages of foolscap, in which all texts
from Matthew to Ephesians inclusive1 bearing upon
the question of our justification by " faith " or by
"works'' are set down, contrasted, and commented on.

Though there is no summing up to show the
conclusions of his mind, it is to be inferred from his
comments that he believed that a true faith will
always be followed by works.

His mind was so constituted that his thoughts
upon religious subjects and their bearing upon life
only added brightness and happiness to it, and never

1 The intention apparently was to continue it through the whole of
the New Testament.

408 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

brought gloom or depression. He writes to his
sister, Mrs. Boulton, in 1839 : " I never could under-
stand why religion should make any one gloomy,
and I think that we ought to suspect that we have
a mistaken view of it if it has that tendency with
ourselves."

This is perhaps well shown also in his choice of the
text given below, when he was twenty-five years of age.

At this time, a year before his marriage, he was a
great deal with Mr. Merry's family in London, and
it was suggested by some of the latter that each one
of the party should write a sermon in turn, and read
it on Sunday evening.

The text my father chose for his was the 6th
chapter of Micah, 6th, 7th, and 8th verses, explaining
that the reason he selected it was that of the many
summaries of our duty contained in the Scriptures,
with the exception of that memorable one given by
our Saviour in his Sermon upon the Mount, there
was none to his mind so concise and yet so compre-
hensive, so sublime and yet so comforting and simple,
and with the concluding lines in such striking contrast
to the appeal which led to it, as this : —

MICAH vi. 6, 7, 8.

Wherewithal shall I come before the Lord and bow myself
before the High God ? Shall I come before Him with burnt
offerings, with calves of a year old ? Will the Lord be pleased
with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil ?
Shall I give my first-born for my transgression — the fruit of
my body for the sin of my soul ?

He hath showed thee, O man, what is good ; and what doth
the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God ?

APPENDIX A

EXTRACT from Act passed by the Legislature of the Upper
Province of Canada on the 14th March 1815 : —

"Whereas the glorious and honourable defence of this
Province in the war with the United States of America hath
necessarily called from their usual occupations and professions
most of the Inhabitants of the Province, and amount them verv
many Barristers, Students at Law, Attorneys, and Articled Clerks
of Attorneys — whereby the regular meetings of the Benchers of
the Law Society of the said Province have been, for many terms
past, interrupted — several young gentlemen have been pie-
vented from making due application for admission on the
Books of the said Society as Students at Law ; and several
Students at Law have in like manner been prevented being
called to the Bar to their manifest and great injury. . . .

"And whereas to obviate this evil, as far as they then
could, at a meeting of the said Law Society, held as of Hilary
Term in the iifty-fifth year of his present Majesty's reign, the
Benchers of the said Law Society did enter upon their books
the names of several persons who have been prevented in
manner aforesaid from obtaining their due admission as Stu-
dents and Barristers.

"Therefore, to remove all doubts as to the legality of such
entry, it is enacted that all names now entered on the K
of the Law Society as Students at Law, and Barri dl be

deemed and held to be legally and regularly entered on the
said books, and are hereby declared to be Students at Law and

409

410 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

Barristers within the Province, and of such standing as to time
as is now allowed to each respectively upon the books of the
Society."

II

DESIGN of 61 Gold and 548 Silver Medals struck (but never
issued) for the Loyal and Patriotic Society of York,
Upper Canada, to reward merit and commemorate glorious
exploits and extraordinary instances of courage and fidelity
in the War of 181 2-15.

" In a circle formed by a wreath of laurel, the words ' For
Merit ' — Legend, ' Presented by a grateful country.'

" On the reverse — A streight l between two lakes. On the
north side a Beaver (emblem of peaceful industry), the ancient
armorial bearing of Canada. In the background an English
Lion slumbering.

" On the south side of the streight, the American Eagle
planeing the air, as if checked from seizing the Beaver by the
presence of the Lion — Legend, ' Upper Canada preserved.' "

The medal was 2J inches in diameter.

After lying for some years in the Bank of Upper Canada,
these medals were, in the year 1840, sold to Messrs. Charles
Sewell and William Stennett, watchmakers in Toronto, for
<£>393, 12s. Id. currency.

I know of only two which have been preserved — one gold
and one silver. They were in possession of the late Hon. G.
W. Allan, of Moss Park, Toronto.

Thus speltj meaning " strait."

APPENDIX

411

II,

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS' TO THE BALL GIVEN TO
THE LADIES AND STKAV ;r.i:S OF YORK

I To Celebrate the Capture of Xiu^nni In/ xtnrm mi the

December 181:1

Shares

Thomas Scott . . 5

Mr. Dumr. Powell . . ,'j

Wm. Campbell . . 3

John Strachan . . 2

W.Allan . «

D. Cameron ... 2

JohnM'Gill . . . i

S. Jarvis .... 1

Thomas Ridout . . 1

Wm. Jarvis ... 1

Mr. Haldwin ... 1

guctton St. Geor- . i>

W. Chewett ... 2

John Beikie 1

ruikshank
Aliens Mackintosh
Alexander Wood
Grant Powell .
.1. 1 It-ward

Alexander Horn

H. C. Hoi iu .

Wm. M. .Jarvis
William Lee .
John U. Kohinson
Mr. Boulton .
Mr. P. Robinson

Expense of the assembly

Each share = XJ1, 16s.

Total

. 17s. 6d.

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

. 1

The bills for the assemblies at York in January 181 -I
show that Teneriffe wine and London market Madeira formed
a principal part of the wine consumed ; and the following
entries as to expenses for the season 1814 occur: —

Paid

?5
>»
»
?5
»
«

Brown for <;oin«j several times round
with subscriptions .
Music for the season
Charles (a black man) for waiting .
Lackie, the baker, for cakes
Female attendants ....
CTKeefe, for use of room .
M' In tosh, for wine, £c. .

1
™
2
19
1
28
55

s.

15
5
7
10
15
15

&

G
0
0
6
0
0
71

i The names of some of the subscribers to this ball and to the assem-
blies in 1814 given below, are not very legibly written in the original
manuscript, so possibly may not be put down with perfect correctness.

412 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

Colonel Haulers servant, and the fifer of the
Niagara .......

Lemon, the violin player .....

For the use of a violin .....

Musicians of Canadian Fencibles

For advertising in the Gazette ....

Dollars

6

10
1

8

NAMES OF SUBSCRIBERS TO THE ASSEMBLIES
AT YORK IN 1814

Thomas Scott.
W. Dummer Powell.
William Jarvis.
William Allan.
Alexander Wood.
William Smith.
Grant Powell.
S. Jarvis.

John B. Robinson.
P. Robinson.
George Ridout.
George Jarvis.
John Strachan.
H. Baldwin.
James Hands.
H. Lee.
J. Quesnet.
Quetton St. George.
— Kitson, Lt. R.E.
W. Chewett.
Al. Thorn.
Capt. Lelievre.
Sam. P. Jarvis.
Wm. M. Jarvis.
Tho. Taylor.
D. Boulton, Jun.
L. de Koven, Lt. Royal
Newfoundland Regiment.
Lieut. Ingonville.

S

•a
&

William Campbell.

John Beikie.

William Shanley.

J. M'Gill.

Geo. Cruikshank.

Geo. Shaw,

Richard Friend,

Wm. Faulkner,

J. Harford,

H. Lott,

W. T. Hall,

Richard Bullock,

Charles Lane,

H. D. Townshend,

Geo. Edge,

James D. Perrin,

Alex. Major,

Dl. Cameron.

Tho. Ridout.

Angus Mackintosh.

J. He ward.

N. Home.

Major Givens.

Mr. Davenport, Royal Navy.

Lieut. Ryerson, Incorp. Militia.
„ Hamilton, „

„ Ruttan, „

„ Kirby, „

John Douglas, 8th Regt.

APPENDIX

R. Stanton.

Richard Shaw.

Q.-Mr. Troughton, Lt. R.A.

James Macaulay.

William M'Aulay.

Colonel Maule.

Mr. Kemble.

Mr. Miles, 89th Regiment.

Mr. Gossett, Engineers.

Major Walmsley, 82nd
Regiment.

Ed. Davis, Lt. 82 Regi-
ment.

Mr. Wills, Royal Marines.

Mr. Pearson, Royal Navy.

Captain Barclay.

Mr. Cruikshank.

Colonel Glen, Incorp. Militia.

Lt. Tomkins, 11. A.

Major Kirby.

Mr. Archdeacon.

Major de Haren.

Mr! Wall, Fort Adjt.

Mr. Jackson, Q.M.G.

Lt. Jarvie, Incorp. Militia.

Dr. O'LiMry. Medical Staff.
xth

„ White,

„ Ward,

„ Robertson, „

„ Lee,

„ Palmer,
Mr. Irwin.

Mr. M'Dougal, Incorp. Militia.
(Ki<;ht officers, Canadian

cibles, for one night.)
Lt. M'Dougall.
Dr. Young.
Mrs. Dercm/v.
Mrs. Tallow.
Mrs. .lanowav.
Daniel Claus.
Mrs. Geale.
Mr. Rolph.
Mrs. Wallin.
Captain Walker.
Captain Eraser.
Captain M'Donell.
Captain Kerr.
Ens. Warffe.

Evidently several of those whose names are given above
subscribed for themselves and their families, so that a good
number must often have been got together at these assemblies.

IV

THE FIRST AMERICAN REGIMENT, OR
"QUEENS HANGERS"

The excellent services of the " Queen's Rangers " during the
American Revolutionary War of 1775-85 deserve some special
allusion. It was originally raised for the war in Connecticut
and the vicinity of New York by Colonel Rogers.

Its ranks were filled eventually with loyalists, both colonists

414 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

and old country men ; and, when disbanded, a number of its
officers were men who had left their estates and settlements in
Virginia to join it.

Lieut.-Colonel Simcoe, then a captain in the 40th Regi-
ment, with provincial rank of major, obtained the command of
the corps in October 1777, after it had already been frequently
engaged and had suffered heavily at the battle of Brandy wine
(llth September 1777), a British victory, after which Phila-
delphia was occupied, and in which Colonel Simcoe had been
also severely wounded while leading his company of the 40th.

No one can read the history of the operations of this corps
— published by Colonel Simcoe in 1787 — giving an account of
the manner in which the different arms composing it were in-
structed and handled, without seeing that Colonel Simcoe him-
self was, as a commanding officer, very much in advance of the
prevailing military ideas of his time.

In 1779, as a reward for the " faithful services and spirited
conduct " of the corps, the rank of the officers was made per-
manent in America, and the regiment was styled and numbered
" The 1st American Regiment," or " Queen's Rangers."

Colonel Simcoe's ability and skill as its leader were fully
recognised by the Government, and had he lived he would most
probably have risen to great distinction. After he had become
a Lieutenant-General, and had retired from the appointment
of Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, and subsequently of
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of St. Domingo, he was (in
1806, when the French were threatening Portugal), sent to the
Tagus to concert with Lord St. Vincent as to measures of
defence, and had been appointed Commander-in-Chief in India
when he suddenly died on his passage home from Portugal at
the age of fifty-four.

The corps of Queen's Rangers was composed of both cavalry
and infantry, and frequently had light guns attached to it as
well.

When at its greatest strength, it consisted of two troops of
dragoons, added on 25th August 1780 ; a body of " Huzzars " ;
eleven companies of infantry, viz. — eight ordinary companies, a
grenadier company, a light infantry company, and a company

AI'I'KXDIX

of Highlanders, with a 3-pounder light gun and r\n " amu/ette v 1
attached. Occasionally a 6-pounder gun accompanied it, but
the guns were worked by artillerymen and did not to;
manent part of the corps."

The companies were very fully oilircred in proportion to
their strength, which in Colonel Simcoe's opinion ** |>
preservation of the corps in many trying >it nations." They
weak in numbers, and the regiment probably m < ded

in the actual field .">()() efficient men, but tlu-M- were con>tantlv
employed on outpost and light infantry duties, and ho\\ •
inclement the weather, the infantry (Colonel Simcoe I
" seldom marched less than ninety miles a wet •;.

The corps was a light, or what was termed a "partisan "
one, and was admirably adapted for scouting duty, then- being
hardly a district in which it operated which was not intimately
known to some of the officers and men in it.

The dress was green, a green waistcoat with thin sleeves
being worn as a fighting dress in warm weather, and an outer
coat with sleeves provided to be put over it in winter. The
Highland Company retained its national dre>s. and had iN |)i}>er.

After the execution of Major Andre, and in his memory,
black and white feathers were worn in the head-dress.8

The corps was repeatedly engaged with the enemy, and
suffered in consequence a good deal of loss. On the ^!(ith June
17S1, it lost ten killed and twenty-three wounded in an affair
near Williamsburg, Virginia, in the neighbourhood of \Yilliam
and Mary College. This affair took place at the forks of the
road between Williamsburg and Jame.stown in Virginia, and
termed the " Action at Spencer's Ordinary."

In it all arms of the "Queen's Rai _ re engaged and

successfully repulsed three times their numbers of the Manjuis
de La Fayette's army. A casualty in the action caused the

1 An ainuzette was a light brass field gun throwing a hall of about
\ Ib. in weight, and was found of use no doubt un>: hat similar
circumstances as the Boer " Pom-l'om- " were in the recent war in South
Africa.

2 It appears that Col. Simcoe turned some of his light infantry into
mounted infantry on certain occasion-.

1 A picture of Cornet — afterwards Colonel — Jarvis in the dress of the
Queen's Rangers, shows these feathers, and on his cross belt are the

letters ^ ,,, probably meaning " Pra^non-. (^i;rri:'> Il.-i; ...

416 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

vacant commission, to which my grandfather, Christopher
Robinson, was appointed from this date.

After a career of many successes, it was its fate to form
part of Lord Cornwallis's army, which was besieged in York-
town, and, on the surrender of that place in October 1781, it
was cantoned at Long Island.

At the peace of 1783 it was disbanded in Nova Scotia, the
officers being placed on half-pay, and their provincial rank made
permanent in the British army.

The value of its services cannot be better shown than by
quoting the following letter from Sir Henry Clinton, the Com-
mander-in-Chief, to Lord George Germaine, Secretary of
State :—

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA, 13th May 1780.

"Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe has been at the head of a
battalion since October 1777, which since that time has been the
perpetual advance of the army.

" The history of the corps under his command is a series of
gallant, skilful, and successful enterprises against the enemy,
without a single reverse. The Queen's Rangers have killed or
taken twice their own numbers. Colonel Simcoe himself has
been thrice wounded, and I do not scruple to assert that his
successes have been no less the fruit of the most extensive know-
ledge of his profession, which study and the experience within
his reach could give him, than of the most watchful attention
and shining courage."

And again, in recommending the claims of the Queen^s
Rangers for British rank and establishment, Sir Henry Clinton
says that he does so in justice to his country, "that in case of
future war, it might not be deprived of the services of such a
number of excellent officers."

In consequence of these representations, the rank of the
officers, previously only held in America, was made universal
and permanent on 25th December 1782, and the corps, cavalry
and infantry, enrolled in the British army.

Among the officers from Virginia in this corps was Captain
Saunders, under whose immediate command my grandfather
served at one time ; and I give below the list of officers as they
appear in the British Army List of 1783 shortly before the
disbandment of the regiment.

„ „

„ „

V

APPENDIX 417

FIRST AMERICAN KKUIMEXT (OR QUEEN'S R

Lieutenant-Colonel Comt. John Graves Simr nental

Rank 25th I)rcvml>.
Army Hank li)lh Din-mb.-r T

Captain John Saumk-rs, Regimental Rank 25th l).v 1

„ David Shank, „ „ „

„ Thomas Ivie Cooke, „
Lieutenant Allan M'N.-ib, „

„ George Albies, „ „ „

„ John Wilson, .. ,. „

„ George Spencer, „ „ „

„ William Digby Lawler, „

Cornet Benjamin Thompson, ,, „ „

„ Thomas Merritt, „ „

„ Benjamin Murison Woolsey, „ „

„ William Jarvis, „ „

„ Samuel Clayton, „ „ „

Adjutant William Digby Lawler, „ „

Major Richard Armstrong, „ „ „

Captain John Mackay, „ .. „

„ Francis Stephenson, „ „ „

„ Robert M'Crea,

„ James Murray, „ „ „

„ James Kerr, „ „ „

„ Stair Agnew, „ „

„ JohnM'Gill,

„ Samuel Smith, „ „ „

„ John Whitlock, „ ., „

.. ./Eneas Shaw, „ „ „

„ Hon. Ben. Wallop (in second), „ „

Lieutenant George £)rmond, „ „ „

„ William Atkinson, „ „ „

„ Nathaniel Fitzpatrick, „ „

„ Thomas Murray, „ „ „

„ Alexander Matheson, „ „ „

„ George Pendred, .. „

„ Charles Dunlop, .. „ „

„ Hugh Mackay, „ „

2D

418 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

Lieutenant Adam Allen, Regimental Rank 25th Dec. 1782.

„ Richard Holland, „ „ „

„ Caleb Howe, „ „ „

„ Andrew M'Can, „ „ „

„ St. John Dunlop, „ „ „

Ensign Swift Armstrong, „ „ „

„ Nathaniel Munday, „ „ „

„ Charles Henry Miller, „ „ „

„ John Ross, „ „ „

„ Andrew Armstrong, „ „ „

„ Edward Murray, „ „ „

„ Creighton M'Crea, „ „ „

„ Christopher Robinson, „ „ „

„ Charles Matheson, „ „ „

Chaplain John Agnew, „ „ „

Adjutant George Ormond, „ „ „

Qr.-Master George Hamilton, „ „ „

Surgeon Alexander Kelloch, „ „ „

Agent, Mr. Wilkinson at General Conway's.

The names on the first part of the above list are apparently
those of the cavalry portion of the corps at this date (1783),
but I think that some of the officers had served also with the
infantry branch. The date of regimental rank, 25th December
(Christmas Day) 1782, is the date on which that rank was
granted in the British army.

Some years after the disbandment of the corps, another, to
which the same name was given, was raised in Canada.

The colours of the corps are now in possession of Colonel
Simcoe^s descendants at Wolford, near Honiton, Devon, where
I saw them in 1897.

V

THE UNION BILL OF 1839

Grounds of Objection to some of its Provisions apart from the
main Measure of the Union.

As to the new districts and the formation of Distric
Councils, provided for in the above bill, my father writes thi
in " Canada and the Canada Bill " :—

APPENDIX 11!)

"Canada has for yean been divided into districts. In
Upper Canada alone there are more than t wdve. each !
divided into counties corresponding in most respects in nature
and design to English counties, with their bodies of Magis-
trates, Courts, \e.

" The twenty districts of Canada now existing co\
of not less than the eighty-five counties into which ( •
Britain is divided for purposes exactly similar.

" If it be intended that the present division into districts
shall cease when the new Act comes into effect there can be no
(ion that as regards Upper Canada at least, the bill, in its
present form, ought never to become a law: 1st, it mak<
provision whatever for the administration of justice within
Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, and Kingston; Mud, it make> no
provision for the future discharge of duties which are now
performed by the various civil authorities in each of the several
districts, and which are not of a nature to l>e superintended
by a merely legislative body like the District. Councils;
the councils would have authority to appropriate the district
funds raised under the present laws, and so the m
would be left without the means of performing the duties now
entrusted to them; 4th, which is even more material, it i-
wholly out of the question that this range of duties, including
the administration of justice, civil and criminal, can be dis-
charged within such extensive circles of territory as are pro-
posed by the Act, with a due regard to the interests and
convenience of the inhabitants."

As to the creation of " Elective Councils" in each district,
he writes: — "I cannot think it possible that this provision as
to Elective Councils, though the details occupy a fourth part
of the bill which has been introduced, will, after due con-
sideration, be retained in any Act that shall be pa»ed for the
future government of Canada. . . .

"The powers and duties of such councils could not fail to
bring them most inconveniently into collision with the pro-
vincial legislature and the local magistracy; and the elec
to these councils, which would be recurring annually through-
out the whole colony, would keep the country in a perpetual
state of agitation and excitement.

420 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

" It is evident also that they would subject the people to
great expense. The fox in the fable objected to having the
swarm of flies driven away that were filling themselves with
his blood, because he apprehended that a new swarm would
succeed to them, which, being active and empty, would soon
take from him the little he had left. This bill, with less con-
sideration for the people, would introduce a second swarm
to prey (as the report would have us to apprehend) upon
the life-blood of the commonwealth, without driving away
the first."

The restrictions under which the bill placed the councils
would not, he argued, prove effective.

As to the determination of the districts and electoral
divisions by means of arbitrators (two for each province and
an umpire), provided for in the bill, he writes : —

" This is a very important clause, for upon the operation of
this provision it depends whether those who are favourable to
the measure of uniting the Provinces would be likely to see
those advantages realised which they have been led to expect
from it. It is this clause which lays the foundation of the new
constitution so far as this result is concerned.

" By giving to the arbitrators the power of creating the
electoral divisions, and assigning to them their boundaries,
the bill leaves it to depend on their discretion how the
Assembly shall, in the first instance at least, be composed—
except that it places restrictions upon them in the exercise
of their discretion.1

" The Government knows what population Lower Canada
contains, and they know also the population of Upper Canada ;
the extent of the several counties in both provinces; the
manner in which the population is distributed among them ;
how that population is at present composed ; in what pro-
portions the representation is distributed ; upon what prin-
ciples and by what laws it is regulated — all these circumstances
are well known to the Government.

1 These restrictions, as in the case of those under which the District
Councils were placed, he viewed as insufficient for their purpose, explain-
ing his reasons for this view.

>

APPENDIX 421

"Then why devolve upon arbitrators a discretionary power
of this kind, upon the right exercise of which it is certain that
everything must depend.

"Besides the uncertainty of attaining a sati>factor\
through an arbitration, it is prudent to consider that
method of proceeding, if it is to answer the desired object,
will be beyond measure the most invidious course, and such
as must be attended with much greater difficulty than the
other."

As to the proposed alteration in the constitution of the
Legislative Council (Upper House), he writes : —

It certainly seems not a little singular that at the
time when it is proposed to add greatly to the weight of the
representative branch of the Legislature in Canada, by con-
centrating it in one assembly more numerous than anv other
similar body in the British Colonies, it >houlcl be thought
prudent to diminish the weight of the other branch of the
Legislature by destroying its claim to independence, and by
placing its members every eight years at the pleasure of the
Crown, or (as the bill is in effect) at the mercv of the
Governor.

That the members shall hold their office but for eight
ears, and at the end of that time may be reappointed or not
at the pleasure of the Government, appears to be a new inven-
tion in government, adopted apparently from the practice in
some joint-stock companies. It certainly would tend to sink
as low as it could well be sunk the character of the members of
the Legislative Council for independence of conduct ; and it is
difficult to understand in what point of view it can have been
thought to be an improvement upon the constitution.

" Instead of holding their seats, as they now do, on a
tenure that enables them fearlessly to stand between their
fellow-subjects and any danger that may threaten tin in. either
from an arbitrary government on the one hand, or from a rash
and unwise popular body on the other, they would be fairly
Warned that, during the eight years, they must so shape their
course as to give no offence.

"When the period should come round, if by an honest
discharge of their duty they shall have drawn upon themselves

422 SIR JOHN BEVERLEY ROBINSON

the denunciations of the Assembly, a weak governor will shrink
from reappointing them from timidity; if, by resisting some
unwise and injurious proposition of the Government, they shall
have incurred his displeasure, an arbitrary governor would
abandon them from resentment.'1''

As to the proposed substitution of the term " President "
for " Speaker," he writes : —

"The latter is the correct English designation for this
officer in the upper branch of the legislature as well as in
the other. It certainly cannot be an advantage to destroy
unnecessarily any point of resemblance, even in form or name,
between the representative constitution in the colonies and in
the mother country.""

As to the proposal to concede to the colonial legislature
the power to pass laws as to prorogation and dissolution of the
Houses of Parli